Huh What? NFL champ picks, Teo, and Armstrong

Hang on, What? An Odd week in Sports

The week leading up to the conference championships for the NFL is usually dominated by talking heads endlessly bantering back on forth on their opinions of match ups and favorites heading into the weekend. Turn to 2013 and the sports world in consumed with a dead imaginary girlfriend and a bully on a bike. Hang on, what? Did I just punch it to 88 in the Delorian and find myself back in Mrs. Williamson’s second grade class again? It feels oddly reminiscent of talks I would expect to have then, concerned with things such as the bully at the end of the block with this nice mountain bike and the creepy kid in the corner who keeps talking about his best friend Jet who we all know is made up. I just pinched myself and yes it is 2013 and Manti Te’o and Lance Armstrong have taken over the airwaves.

Now I am as guilty as anyone at letting my attention be captivated this week by these stories and I’m a 49ers fan. I should spend this week consumed with injury updates and secondary match ups, yet I’m watching Opera and episodes of a show called Catfish. Yet, it would be like driving past a car crash and not craning your neck for an extended look. The human impulse of curiosity just won’t allow it. What are the odds we ever see the headline “Heisman Finalist’s Dead Girlfriend Never Existed” 1,000,000 to 1? 10,000,000 to 1? It still seems so irrational to me that the biggest star on football centric campus was dating online at all, yet dating a girl online who didn’t exist. He could literally have any girl on campus he wanted, yet he is spending his time texting and talking on the phone with a girl supposedly half a world away. This also happens the same week that the face probably most associated with the global disease of cancer, Lance Armstrong, after 13 years of denial and countless lawsuits (Lance couldn’t even remember all the people he sued just said it was a lot) goes on television with Oprah of all people for a confession. It was just that a confession not an apology, the only time he seemed truly contrite was when he explained he wished he told the people in his inner circle he was conceding the fight to the USADA that they had all stood by him and fought all those years. On a side note I thought steroids was suppose shrink your balls, cause the Lance on the Oprah set was admiring the size of his own balls and still not understanding who we the American public wouldn’t admire his set of cajones with him.

Just a crazy week in sports and before I spend the whole time rambling about the drama of the world lets focus back to the rightful bearer of out January attention and that’s THE NFL PLAYOFFS. First let’s focus on the game my heart is not attached to and that’s Ravens vs. Patriots. We get a rematch last years AFC championship that came down to a last second field goal and an early regular season match up decided by a last second field goal. That sentence and that sentence alone is the reason I’m taking the Ravens in this game. The Ravens are GETTING EIGHT POINTS as of writing this Friday afternoon, EIGHT POINTS!!!!!!! There are few teams outside their division that know each other as well as the Ravens and Patriots know each other. Tom Brady knows Ray Lewis is a steak and eggs guy in the morning and Ray knows Tom just can’t get his day started without Honey Nut Cheerios and a banana. They just know each other well and good teams that know each other well usually are decided by one score and by my calculation even if the Patriots win say 38-31 that’s only seven. Take the eight points and thank me on Monday morning.

THE PICK: Patriots 34 Ravens 31 (Ravens +8 OVER Patriots)

Now onto the centerpiece of my weekend the NFC championship featuring the 49ers vs. Falcons. A little background I have a been a 49ers fan since six years old, grew up with Steve Young and Jerry Rice and that transitioned Jeff Garcia and Terrell Owens. Yet after 2002 the franchise basically laid dormant for an entire decade, that was until last year and the arrival of Jim Harbaugh. Now here we are our second year in a row the favored in the NFC championship game. This year we look across at another “prototypical quarterback” trying to push their way up the ladder on NFL quarterback greatness. Just like last year another litany of talented receivers. Yet this year we don’t see a dominating defensive line like the Giants had last year, nor do we see a simple ball control offense on the 49ers side. Enter Colin Kaepernick coming off the most dominating combination of running and passing in one game in playoff history. With all that said do the 49ers deserve the four and a half point favorite status they enjoying entering Sunday? The answer is no if this game was in San Fran sure I could see giving four and half points but not on the road vs. a top 10 QB who always seems to win field goal games at home. In a game that I know will be decided by one score one way or another let it be a Falcons 27-21 or Falcons 31-28 or 49ers 31-28 or 49ers 31-24. I’ll take three out of four plausible scenarios over one out of four.

THE PICK: 49ers 31 Falcons 28 (Falcons +4.5 over 49ers)

Taking the points in both but expecting the favorites to win outright. Who knows these games might end up being as crazy as the sports stories this week here’s to hoping they are Cheers!