Super Bowl XLIII Steelers vs. Cardinals

Pittsburgh (-7) vs. Arizona. Wow, anyone in America who picked this Super Bowl matchup prior to the 2008 season should either receive some sort of an award or possibly be labeled critically insane. I’m not sure which. At the beginning of the season, no one would have argued the fact that the Steelers would have a decent shot at getting to the year’s end game.

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However, if you mentioned ‘Arizona’ and ‘Super Bowl’ in the same sentence, the only thoughts someone might have would be: wasn’t the Big Game just played there last year? There would have been no thought as to the Cardinals actually being the NFC’s representative IN the Big Game.

Unlike Matt, I am kind of excited to watch the Super Bowl for the first time in several years. We’ve had the Mannings take back to back Super Bowls the past two years and other than wanting to see the Pats finish 19-0 last year, I didn’t have much overall interest in the actual Super Bowl matchup presented for quite a while. This year’s entrants present an intriguing matchup of a lights-out offense vs. the league’s top-ranked defense.

All in all, I think 7 points is a big spread for this game especially with how the Cardinals have been playing in the postseason. They’ve scored over 30 points in each game against Atlanta, Carolina and Philly. It’s a given that the Falcons and Panthers’ defenses were not ‘top five quality,’ but getting 32 pts against the Eagles 3rd rated defense definitely opened some eyeballs.

Arizona may not get 30+ in this game, but I’m still taking them for a straight up victory and to obviously beat the spread. Plus my wife likes the Steelers. 

Final score: Arizona 24, Pittsburgh 21.

Here’s my list of 5 things that would be more fun than the super bowl:

5. A root canel
4. Watching any of 42 super bowls that anyone actually cared about.
3. The Pro Bowl
2. Reading a book about Andrew Carnegie (my current project)
1. Making a voodoo doll of Kurt Warner and sticking pins in his thumbs throughout the game (this might be the only thing that makes the game watchable).

Here’s five things I’m looking forward to since football ended in December for me this year:

5. The Daytona 500
4. The Bluejackets making the playoffs
3. The Masters
2. My first opening day as a Reds fan.
1. The day something magical happens and the 49ers offer the offensive coordinator job to someone who actually accepts.

Here’s the chance I’m going to pick the Cardinals: Zero.

Here’s the chance I care either way: Zero.

Pittsburgh wins and covers, which will give them the distinct honor of winning the most inconsequential and meaningless Super Bowl in history.  Thanks for playing, boys.  See you next year.

Not a fun time of year…

Okay, I’m already sick of NBA basketball and hockey being the only sports on tv in the past couple weeks. Of course we also have the ’scintillating’ hot stove baseball stories to keep us going, NOT. I think I’m going to go into a very deep depression once Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone. I don’t want to wait another 8 months for games to start up again.

Here’s a bit of what my life is all about right now: I ended up watching Australian Open tennis last night (Serena Williams vs. one of those ugly, annoying Russians). Good thing was Serena was down 7-5 after one set, but came back to win 7-5, 6-1 after that. Bad thing is,  I really enjoy watching Serena, except for it’s not football, so that part sucks.

NEWS FLASH

Spoiler Alert… read no further if you’ve been in a coma for the last ten years.

Kurt Warner once bagged groceries.  He’s now in the Super Bowl.

I know, it’s like a Disney movie.  Except boring, redundant and not that special unless you’re an ESPN commentator or play by play guy.

Guess who else bagged groceries?  I FREAKING DID.  And now I’m gamefully employed in my chosen profession.  I expect the Oxygen network to buy the rights to my amazing story any day now.

And yes, It’s only Monday and I’m already sick of the media’s swooning for Kurt Warner.

I’m leaning towards Mount Union in the Super Bowl – I think those guys would beat either team.

Can We Bring the XFL back?

0-2.  That was my record against the spread.  I believe that made MattyJ 1-1.  He has the day off thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr.  So, by my count that brings the total to:

Me: 104-96-1

Matty J 108-92-1

I’m sort of bitter about this super bowl.  I really like the game and the experience.

The first football game I ever watched was the Bears/Patriots super bowl.  At that time (I was 6), I cheered for the Bears, because I had a lot of stuffed animals.  Yeah, that’s actually better logic than I used on this blog this year – at least the Bears won.  Anyway, I moved the roughly 63,000 teddy bears I had into the living room and watched the game.

I watched the 49ers de-mol-ish the Broncos in ‘90 on that same TV (no stuffed animals this time… but I did have a shrine to Joe Montana – complete with candles – for many of my formulative years).

In ‘91 I got behind the Bills against the Giants and Scott Norwood broke my heart.  My brother liked the Giants so I hid under my bed for a solid half hour after that game rather than face the wrath of a 13-year-old older brother.

I even managed to get up a bit of excitement for my 49ers in ‘95 despite the team being led by Deion Sanders and Steve Young.

Then I joined Matty J in a computer lab for John Elway’s triumph against the Packers.  That work study shift was the worst considering the Packers are his team, but there wasn’t much use for a Packer fan to watch that game live anyway. (remember dial up internet?  I think we only ran about 3 hours behind the actual game with those “live” updates).

Recently I’ve had to settle mostly for cheering on the second coming of Joe Montana in Tom Brady – and even that one backfired last year.

But through all the lean years of 49er rebuilding (…and failing, and rebuilding again, and failing again and so on), I’ve never been more disgusted with a season, playoffs and super bowl.

The Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Arizona Cardinals.

Who cares?  I don’t.  The two real Cardinal fans and the band wagoners probably do, but seriously – come on.  That’s ridiculous.

So, my mind has turned to other sports.  I bought a fantasy baseball magazine yesterday – thinking about maybe getting into a league this year.

I’m watching a lot of Buckeye basketball, which is a surprise because I don’t usually start watching basketball until March and then only for a couple weeks.

And I’ve overcome my fear of watching hockey on TV.  I love watching it in person, but could never really get into it on TV.  Now, though, I can do it.  And the reason for that is clear – I ask myself “would you rather watch a Steelers/Cardinals super bowl or this hockey game?”  Hockey game it is – every time.

There’s also a new stadium being built in Columbus, and the team is now affiliated with the Cleveland Indians which should be good for the in-state fans (if not, so much, for the in-division – but rival – Chicago White Sox fans).

These are all things to look forward to.  Oh, and the Hall of Fame game is only like 6 months ago.

…That’s the next football game I’ll probably watch.

NFC/AFC Championship game picks

Ok,  like many guys across the country, I’ve already got this knot in my stomach now that football season is nearing an end. I mean frankly with the teams left to pick from in the NFL playoffs, the season might as well already be over (insert comedic drum sequence here).

I know Matt and I basically lost most of our interest in NFL action way back in about week 8 when the Packers and Niners  decided they were going to mail in the rest of the season. So at this point neither one of us is greatly excited about the NFL semis coming up Sunday afternoon.

But, either way, we are obligated to the millions and millions of fans out there who read this blog on a daily basis to continue to make our weekly picks through and through:

Baltimore at Pittsburgh (-6). Pick any defensive battle cliche you’d like for this one. Might as well just keep the offenses on the sideline and have the defenses and special teams play against each other and see who wins.

I can see this game going one of two ways. After two decent playoff starts so far, Flacco finally gets out of whack(o)  vs. the Steelers’ defense and turnovers cost the Ravens bigtime.

Or this just ends up being a 12-9, 9-6, 6-3 type of field goal festival that no one in America enjoys watching. Just ask all those folks who watched the Eagles/Giants and Ravens/Titans games last weekend.

However, as usual, either of my predictions could be wrong and one team may just roll over the other because they are more prepared. Now on to the pick. A six point spread for this game? Are you kidding me? This one’s simple. Baltimore beats the spread here.

Philadelphia (-3.5) at Arizona. This game should be fun to watch. Simply because I really want Arizona to win and Matt really wants Philly to win.  I’ve never really had a problem with Kurt Warner, even having used him on my Fantasy Football teams in the past. Matt, on the other hand, would like to tie Kurt to a stake and beat him mercilessly, if for no other reason than Kurt apparently still likes to feed his children generic types of cereal instead of name brands.

This really should be the better of the two games to watch. Arizona has really took off the past couple of weeks forcing a lot of turnovers on defense while the offense has scored 30 pts vs. Atlanta and 33 pts  vs. Carolina. Plus being a 3.5 pt underdog at home might just make them a little angry. Arizona beats this spread.

There’s really no point in discussing how bad these playoffs are.  Seriously, if there’s a hockey game on at the same time as the Super Bowl, I’ll probably watch the hockey game.  I said in an email earlier this week that I won’t even watch the Super Bowl for the commercials at this point.  I’ve watched and gotten more enjoyment out of Buckeye Basketball (how about that win over Indiana… woooo!) and Bluejackets hockey (seriously, I’m watching hockey on TV and glad to have it) lately.  I can be mildly interested in the Eagles.  Otherwise, I’d put the other three teams in the bottom 5 teams in the league.  So yeah, I’m super excited for the weekend…

Baltimore at Pittsburgh (-6). It’s amazing what a couple points can do in the spread.  If this was a 2.5 or 3 point spread, I’d take the Steelers without even thinking about it.  6 points makes me hesitate.  Let’s do a Nick Bakay-esque tale of the tape:

QBs: Baltimore has a rookie who has at least shown a minimum proficiency (compared to Kyle Boller… not exactly aiming high here).  Pittsburgh has a guy who breaks his pinkie toe once every two weeks and missing 4 weeks of playing time as a result.  Rookie or fast eddie the motercycle king?  PUSH

Offensive skill players.  Pittsburgh has Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and Willie Parker.  Ravens have Le’Ron McClain, Willis McGahee and Derrick Mason.  Yup, that surely is offensive.    Parker showed up last week, but McClain and McGahee are more consistent.  SLIGHT ADVANTAGE RAVENS.

Coaches: Mike Tomlin and “Not-Jim” Harbaugh.  Remember when this matchup would have featured Brian Billick and Bill Cowher?  Seriously.  PUSH.

Defense: Pittsburgh defense is pretty solid (as a fantasy owner, I’d like to thank them for that.)  But Baltimore is just playing lights out – and their defense scores so many points it’s crazy.  Both defenses will pressure and force mistakes (Pittsburgh because they face a rookie QB and Baltimore because they face the guy keeping Band-Aids in business), but Ed Reed makes it ADVANTAGE RAVENS.

Heinz Field home field advantage: Good ketchup.  Solid advantage against a team from San Diego, but not worth more than an extra point against an east coast, run-based team.  PUSH.

So yeah, here’s the thing.  I can’t pick Pittsburgh by 6 when the advantage points a bit in the directly of the Ravens for a straight up win.  Baltimore in the Super Bowl?  Is that better than Pittsburgh?  Seriously, I can’t watch.  I’ll take the Ravens to beat that spread.

Philadelphia (-3.5) at Arizona. Kurt Warner is the devil.  Seriously.  I can’t take another super bowl with them showing his wife in the stands 20,000 times.  If that was the greatest show on turf, what’s this – the greatest show on geritol?  Come on.  If I have to listen to Al Michaels telling a “Kurt was bagging groceries at the Hy-Vee before getting his big break” even ONE TIME, I’ll snap.  Warner is so fake, so shallow, and it pains me that this dude is a game away from the Super Bowl.  And by the way, this marks the 10th year of my Kurt Warner annoyance… and it runs deep – anyone who knows me knows where I stand on Warner.  Heck, last time my mom sent me a book, she thought it would be funny to put in a Kurt Warner football card.  Oh yeah, that was hee-haa-hi-larious…

McNabb and Philly completes a remarkable turn around and covers the 3.5 in the process.  I’ve never been a bigger fan of Philly… Do it.  DO IT.

Down to the wire. Two weeks left.

The saying is certainly true: “It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.” That was the case for me this weekend in the picks. I started off 2-0 after breezing through the Cardinals and Baltimore NFL games. However, Sunday hit me hard with an 0-2 finish.

Meanwhile, Matt split his picks on Saturday 1-1 and came out Sunday and got both right, finishing the weekend with a 3-1 record, while I stopped at 2-2. So in short, Matt gained a game on me overall with three total games left. (AFC/NFC title games + Super Bowl).

One thing I posed to Matt this morning via email is that if he wins out (thus picking the opposite of me in our final three games), he would tie me with a 107-94-1 record. Thus, I’m guessing we would end up having to make a pick on the Pro Bowl to attempt to break the tie.  Hopefully it doesn’t come to that. 

Matt: 104-94-1

Matty J: 107-91-1

This weekend we’ll have the picks for the AFC and NFC title games, as astonishing as the matchups turned out to be:

AFC –  6:30 p.m., Sunday

Baltimore at Pittsburgh

NFC  – 3 p.m., Sunday

Philadelpha at Arizona

I’m guessing no one in America predicted Arizona would be H-O-S-T-I-N-G the NFC championship game in 2009. This is also the first time I can remember when a team hosted a first round game, went on the road in the second round and then ends up with the home game again in the conference title game. Go figure. Seems like since the Red Sox won the world series five or six years ago, things have just gone crazy in the sports world.

We’ll see how things go this Sunday. I’m guessing the commissioner and most NFL execs are hoping and praying at least that the Steelers win so one team with any sort of fan base gets into the Super Bowl for ratings purposes. I’m doubting they are rooting for a Cardinals vs. Ravens title game.

That pesky preseason top 25

Yeah,  it’s been over on that sidebar all this time.  Let’s do some math and see how we did.  And, yeah, I’m using the AP poll because it’s better for Ohio State.  Blogger’s prerogative.

MattVsMatt Preseason top 25 (actually, # off the mark in parantheses)

1. Ohio State (9; -8)
2. USC (3; -1)
3. Florida (1; +2)
4. Georgia (13; -9)
5. Oklahoma (5; CORRECT!)
6. LSU (NR – 28 if you count the “others receiving votes; -22)
7. Missouri (19; -12)
8. WVU (23; -15)
9. Auburn (NR; Ouch.)
10 (tie). Texas (4; +6)
10 (tie). Tennessee (NR; not only not ranked, but Lane Kiffin is their coach…)
12. Kansas (NR – 37th if you count other votes; -25)
13 (tie). VA Tech (15; -2)
13 (tie). Wisconsin (NR; they were embarrassing, bring back Barry Alvarez)
15. Clemson (NR; did they even play football this year?)
16. Illinois (NR; Ron Zook’s days are numbered)
17. Texas Tech (12; +5)
18. Alabama (6; +12)
19. Notre Dame (NR; There’s always next year)
20. Oregon (10; +10)
21 (tie). BC (NR – 33 if you count other votes; -12)
21 (tie). BYU (25; -4)
21 (tie). Penn St. (8; +13)
24. Florida State (21; -3)
25. South Carolina (NR; but that spurrier guy is awesome!)

The highest ranked team that didn’t make the prestigious MattVsMatt preseason top 25?  Yup, #2 Utah.  I hope the AG doesn’t sue us too for cheating his state…

Others we missed: #7 TCU, #11 Boise State, #14 Mississippi, #16 Oklahoma State, #17 Cincy, #18 Oregon State, #20 Iowa, #22 Georgia Tech, #24 Michigan State.

I think we did alright, actually.  Considering I thought utah, TCU, Boise, Miss, OK State and Georgia Tech played in the I-AA subdivision, we didn’t do too bad.

Gators win, Bring on the NFL weekend

No surprise there. Although, this game was close into the fourth quarter and until Florida made it a 10 pt lead, the game was still in doubt. Matt and I both got the pick correct as the Gators were 3.5 pt favorites. Now we stand at:

Matt: 101-93-1

Matty J: 105-89-1

Onto the NFL weekend with some interesting matchups. Yesterday, ESPN’s Mike and Mike used their confidence picks to determine who will win this weekend’s games. Based on an assessment of QB, coach, offense and defense and how the teams are currently playing,  Mike and Mike ranked from 1-8 (1 being best, 8 being lowest) in each category and then added up the totals with the overall lowest numbers being the winners in each matchup. (if that explanation didn’t make your brain explode, I’m not sure what will)  Here’s how it went down:

Saturday: (please note, the numbers are not the predicted score, but the overall tally of points received based on Mike and Mike’s rankings)

Titans 21, Ravens 24. Which means this game could be very, very close based on how close the two teams were assessed on the four categories. With Tennessee as the 3 pt favorite, I picked Baltimore to beat the spread while Matt picked Titans to cover.

Panthers 15, Cardinals 30. Yes, most likely will be an unfair fight as Arizona has no running game and probably no Anquan Boldin. Carolina’s 15 pts is fourth best in the Mike and Mike rankings. Matt and I both picked the Cards to beat the 10 pt spread here.

Sunday

Steelers 11, Chargers 23.  Statistically an unfair fight, but the Chargers only lost 11-10 at Pittsburgh earlier this season. And, don’t forget, the Chargers are unbeaten vs. the Steelers in the postseason 2-0, while never having beaten them in the reg. season. Matt picked the Steelers to cover, while I picked the Chargers to beat the 6.5 pt spread.

Eagles/Giants tied at 10. Yes, Mike and Mike picked the winner of this game to essentially win the Super Bowl and based on how the overall rankings fell, the winner of this game would play the Steelers in the Super Bowl. In the tiebreaker, the radio dudes picked the Giants to win based on head coaching edge.

Prior to hearing the radio segments yesterday, I jotted down Giants/Steelers on my calendar as the predicted Super Bowl matchup. Not that I would enjoy necessarily watching it, but that’s my prediction at least. However, I can see either Baltimore or Tennessee getting there as well.

Bring on the weekend!

I actually marked on my calendar yesterday Giants

Week 19: BCS title game and NFL playoffs

We’re getting down to the wire on the season of football picks here on Matt vs. Matt. With tonight’s BCS title game clash, the NCAA season will be over and including the Super Bowl, after this week, we’ll have only two total weeks of NFL playoffs left before the season is officially over with. Ugh.

Matt and I finished a decent 6-4 and 7-3 respectively in last week’s picks. I was just glad to be over .500 after roughly a two month slump.  Good thing is, at this point, both Matt and I are over .500 overall and each of us has 100 or more wins:

Matt: 100-93-1

Matty J: 104-89-1

Let the games begin:

Thursday night:

BCS National Title Game

Florida (-3.5) vs. Oklahoma. What a matchup. I can’t say I ‘like’ either team, but I’ll tell you this. I’m rooting for the Gators. I never have been an Oklahoma fan and frankly they are similar in BCS bowls to Ohio State: They just haven’t been that successful in recent years. Anyone remember them getting smoked by WVU 48-28 in last year’s Fiesta Bowl? That game proved if you get in Bradford’s face, it’s going to wreak havoc on the Sooners’ offensive game plan. They also lost to Boise St. before that and frankly I can’t remember the last bowl game Oklahoma actually won.

So, being the true journalist that I am,  I went ahead and looked at BCS history past and found that Oklahoma last won in 2002-03 vs Washington State 34-14 in the Rose Bowl. Since that time, OU has lost to LSU 21-14 (2004 BCS title game), to USC 55-19 (2005 BCS title game), N/A in 2006, to Boise St, 43-42 (ot) ( 2007 Fiesta Bowl) and to WVU 48-28 (2008 Fiesta Bowl).

That said, I believe the Sooners will come out similarly to the way Ohio State approached their game vs. Texas three nights ago: loose, focused and attempting to get a huge monkey off their backs. However, I think Florida will have too much for them to handle overall. Florida 34, Oklahoma 27.

NFL Playoffs

Saturday

Baltimore at Tennessee (-3). zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Is this game over yet? Is it seriously being televised? Wow. All insomniacs please watch. This will be your cure. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Tennessee might even win this game, but Baltimore beats the spread.

Arizona at Carolina (-10). Here’s yet another one of those huge spreads. Last time I picked a 10 + pt spread, it was the Packers over the Lions and I lost. I’m done with big spreads. Carolina wins, but ‘Zona beats the spread here.

Sunday

Philadelphia at NY Giants (-4). This is probably the hardest game to predict at this point. The Eagles barely lost at home to the Giants in mid-season and then they came to the Meadowlands late in the year and won pretty convincingly (despite the score not showing it).  I can see this game going either way. The real question will be whether the Giants are focused and healthy and whether the Eagles show up to play like they did against the Cowboys two weeks ago. (Okay, so that’s more like two or three questions, but still…) Giants won by 5 in Philly, Eagles won by 6 in NY. Coin flip please! This is a toughie, but since I believe the G-men will come out more focused than last time around, I’m taking the Giants to cover.

San Diego at Pittsburgh (-6.5). San Diego is hot. Real hot. Who else in the league can say they have a back-up running back who can account for 320+ all purpose yards in the absence of your lead guy? That said, SD already lost at Pittsburgh once this year. The Steelers’ D will be ready and waiting. Steelers win a close one. SD beats the spread.

Thursday night:

BCS National Title Game

Florida (-3.5) vs. Oklahoma. This game is mildly interesting.  Maybe.  I’m not a fan of either team, so I can’t really seem to get excited about this game.  I’m leaning toward Florida, aren’t you?  I know their loss was worse, but they were stellar late in the season.  I think I’m going to take FL to cover the 3.5.  I think the Oklahoma starts a “the big 12 can’t compete with the sec” meme with this game.  Good freaking luck with that.

NFL Playoffs

Saturday

Baltimore at Tennessee (-3). I don’t know if I’m mentioned how horribly boring these playoffs are, but if I haven’t lemme say that these playoffs are really horribly boring.  I emailed the other Matt that it’s a bad sign that I’m looking forward to the pro bowl more than the super bowl.  It’s a bit like playing golf and starting to wonder about lunch long about hole number 2.  I like football and I’ll miss it, but these teams are so yawn-a-riffic I can’t help but think about the 2009 Hall of Fame game.  I guess I need to pick this game, huh?  I’ll take Tennessee to cover.  I know they ended the season sputtering, but the whole rookie on the road against a darn good Tennessee team makes me skew that way.  Plus I like Jeff Fisher and Steve McNair (see what I did there?), so if I had to hope for a team to make the Super Bowl it’s probably be the Titans.

Arizona at Carolina (-10). Good grief.  Good freaking grief.  How can Vegas do this to me?  They toss out a 10 point spread and lure guys like me into considering a Cardinals pick.  I don’t wanna pick the Cardinals, and I wouldn’t do it straight up, because I think Carolina wins.  But 10 points is an enormous spread – especially in the playoffs.  I actually just sighed and shook my head because I’m so disgusted at this matchup.  10 points?  I can’t seem to type the words… Okay, okay – the Cardinals (I just got shivers… this is gross) beat the spread.

Sunday

Philadelphia at NY Giants (-4). Man I rode the Giants all season, but Philly is playing their best ball right now.  If laughing and loose McNabb shows up with a healthy 150 all-purpose-yard Westbrook, I easily take the Eagles.  But if he-needs-benched McNabb shows up and I-got-an-ouchie-on-my big-toe Westbrook shows up, I think the Giants cover.  So which team shows up?  I’m saying McNabb beats the spread here and we reflect back on a season that saw the giants shooting themselves in the foot (or the thigh, I guess, in this case) too many times to prevail.

San Diego at Pittsburgh (-6.5). Man, the Chargers actually impressed me last week.  I’m surpised the spread didn’t close more.  That said, I bet the weather will be cold and the Pittsburgh D always stands up a home.  Of course, the Steelers need to score a TD to cover the spread, and that’s no sure thing with Big Ben in the backfield.  I just started to write that I’m taking the Chargers, but that cold weather game on the road keeps stopping me.  I guess I’ll go with my gut and take the Steelers to cover.  Wow.  Nothing in the preceding paragraph would have indicated that pick.  Go figure.

I just picked the Cardinals and Steelers… it’s no wonder this post season absolutely disgusts me.

Another Buckeye comment

The Buckeye blogger on the Dispatch blog points out that morons are calling for Tressel to be fired because he only won a title with Cooper’s players.

He makes the following solid point: “well, yes, but how come Cooper never won a title with Cooper’s players?”

A-MEN.

Anyone trying to make a point about the current Buckeyes loses credibility when they use Cooper to make their point.