Categories
NFL General

Super Bowl Party Rules for the Hardcore Fan

If you are a hardcore football fan, Super Bowl Sunday creates a dilemma: do you watch the game per your usual routine (either alone or with a small group of knowledgeable football fans) or do you join the hoi polloi for a Super Bowl Party?

If your team is playing in the Super Bowl, you must maintain your usual routine. There’s no excuse for breaking it now. If your team loses, it’s most likely your fault. This is not the time to be messing around with parties and not wearing your lucky underwear. The Lombardi is at stake.

For the rest of you, if you make the decision to host or attend a Super Bowl party, here are the rules you must adhere to. If you’re attending a party, print out this column for the host and other guests and let me be the jerk in your stead.

Continue reading “Super Bowl Party Rules for the Hardcore Fan”
Categories
New England Patriots

State of the Patriots Union Address

By Ryan McGowan

On December 31, I wrote “Five reasons the Patriots can win Super Bowl XLIV.”

Nice prediction. That’s right up there with the geniuses who predicted the Betamax would clobber the VHS, or that New Coke would be a sales bonanza for Coca-Cola, Inc. Predictions like that basically show why I don’t make my living picking NFL games, though I did win the Poor Man’s PTI regular season pick-‘em championship for the umpteenth year in a row, so what does that tell you about the guys on the show with me?

In light of the Patriots’ embarrassing first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens, I thought it would be a good time to take stock in our local NFL franchise and deliver my State of the Patriots Union Address for 2010 and beyond.

Continue reading “State of the Patriots Union Address”

Categories
NFL General

2009 NFL Playoffs Conference Championship Games Picks and Podcast

The Conference Championship Games are always the best Sunday in the entire football season. This week we discuss whether the Jets can continue their run and whether the Saints can make their first Super Bowl.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 90 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

Continue reading “2009 NFL Playoffs Conference Championship Games Picks and Podcast”
Categories
NHL Philadelphia Flyers Pittsburgh Penguins

NHL Should Have Punished Penguins, FSN Pittsburgh

The National Hockey League messed up, and if vulgarity weren’t frowned upon in journalism, I would not have used the word “messed.”

If the NHL cared about its credibility, not to mention if it wanted to gain a little public exposure that it desperately needs, the league would have come out quickly and harshly against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

On Jan. 7, Simon Gagne of the Philadelphia Flyers should have been credited with a short-handed goal. But also on Jan. 7, Lowell MacDonald Jr., producer for FSN Pittsburgh’s Pittsburgh Penguins broadcasts, failed to send the league a video replay from an overhead camera that clearly showed that a goal was scored.

Based on lack of clarity in the other views, the referee declared no goal, only for FSN Pittsburgh to show the home viewers the overhead camera view right after play resumed.

Continue reading “NHL Should Have Punished Penguins, FSN Pittsburgh”
Categories
NFL General

2009 NFL Playoffs Round 2 Picks and Podcast

After a little bit of a letdown for wildcard weekend (with the exception of the phenomenal GB/ARI game), the NFL playoffs should heat up this weekend. We analyze all the games in depth and pick the winners of the divisional round of the 2009/2010 NFL playoffs.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 90 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

Continue reading “2009 NFL Playoffs Round 2 Picks and Podcast”
Categories
NFL General

2009 NFL Playoffs Round 1 Picks and Podcast

Now the real fun starts. Despite a deja-vu feeling from week 17, this week’s games are the real deal. We analyze all the games in depth and pick the winners of the first round of the 2009/2010 NFL playoffs.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 70 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

Continue reading “2009 NFL Playoffs Round 1 Picks and Podcast”
Categories
NFL General

2009 NFL Week 17 Picks and Podcast

While all of the playoff participants in the NFC have been determined and only seeding remains, the lower seeds in the AFC are all wide open. We discuss all the likely playoff scenarios and project seeding in this podcast.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 90 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

Continue reading “2009 NFL Week 17 Picks and Podcast”
Categories
New England Patriots

Five Reasons the Patriots Can Win Super Bowl XLIV

By Ryan McGowan

As surely as the calendar changes from oh-nine to oh-ten, I’m back with my annual homerific justification and rationalization as to why the Patriots will solidify their Team of the Decade standing with a Super Bowl title. (Or, in the case of last year, why the Super Bowl XLIII champion will always have an asterisk because the Patriots were shut out of the playoffs.) So, let’s get right to it—here’s five reasons why Bob Kraft, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady could be hoisting their fourth Lombardi Trophy in Miami in February:

Continue reading “Five Reasons the Patriots Can Win Super Bowl XLIV”

Categories
NBA General

Rogue Commissioner: NBA’s David Stern

By Diane M. Grassi

“Considering the fact that so many state governments – probably between 40 and 50 – don’t consider it immoral, I don’t think that anyone should. It may be a little immoral because in reality it is a tax on the poor; the lotteries. But having said that, it’s now a matter of national policy. Gambling is good.”

No, that high profile quote is not attributable to a member of the U.S. Congress, a state governor nor other public official or public figure. Most people had no clue who said it until it was published on December 11, 2009 in a Sports Illustrated interview that writer, Ian Thomsen, had with National Basketball Association (NBA) Commissioner, David Stern. In it, Stern reveals that his stance on legalized sports betting has softened.

Continue reading “Rogue Commissioner: NBA’s David Stern”

Categories
NFL General

2009 NFL Week 16 Picks and Podcast

Two weeks left in the NFL regular season and there are too many playoff scenarios to count. What makes the penultimate week great is that the many many tiebreakers means that every game potentially can affect playoff seeding. This is the week where NFL Sunday Ticket earns its keep.

You can download the podcast directly (running time 90 mins) or subscribe to the feed.

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

Continue reading “2009 NFL Week 16 Picks and Podcast”