August 14, 2022 Posted in  NFL News

Last year was a great year. The Los Angeles Rams won it all, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.

As far as last season’s pick go, I got seven out of eight division winners correct, missing the AFC North (Cleveland didn’t win, Cincy did). In the wild card predictions, I got two out of six (Las Vegas and San Francisco).

Here are my picks for 2022.
AFC East: Buffalo. NFC East: Philadelphia
AFC South: Indianapolis. NFC South: Tampa Bay
AFC North: Baltimore. NFC North: Green Bay
AFC West: Los Angeles Chargers. NFC West: Los Angeles Rams

AFC Wild Cards: Las Vegas, Tennessee, Kansas City
NFC Wild Cards: Dallas, San Francisco, and Minnesota.

AFC Championship Game: Buffalo over Las Vegas.

NFC Championship Game: San Francisco over Tampa Bay.

Super Bowl LVII: San Francisco over Buffalo

August 10, 2021 Posted in  NFL News

After a one year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. As it turned out, this was an unexcused absence. For that I apologize. Tampa Bay won it all last year by defeating Kansas City 31-9 in Super Bowl LV. Jacksonville got the number one overall pick. And Tom Brady continues to defy father time.

And now, without further ado, here are my picks for the 2021 NFL Season.

Division Winners:

AFC East: Buffalo                               NFC East: Dallas

AFC South: Tennessee                      NFC South: Tampa Bay

AFC North: Cleveland                      NFC North: Green Bay

AFC West: Kansas City                    NFC West: Los Angeles Rams

AFC WC: Las Vegas, Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore

NFC WC: Minnesota, New Orleans, San Francisco

Sup...

October 1, 2019 Posted in  NFL News, PSAs

Ah, the old helmet to helmet hit. Yes it made football popular in the 1970s, but, because people’s brains turned inside out, it is banned at all levels of football.

I have always said there are times to be macho, and only to a certain extent. What Raiders LB Vontaze Burfict calling a meeting with Jack Doyle’s mind, aka hitting his helmet with his helmet, was just simply bush league. Burfict got what he deserved, though the suspension will likely be cut in half on appeal.

Now, the fun part. I hope the NFL and NFLPA sanction a made for TV event where Burfict is tied to a goal post and the offensive players who now have future CTE because of Burfict tee off on him.

Sweet vigilante justice.

August 6, 2019 Posted in  NFL News, Raiders

All right, football fans, it’s about time for the annual six month meeting of the minds. That’s also known as NFL football and it’s in more ways than one. Without further ado, here are my predictions:

(From first to last)

AFC East: New England, Buffalo, Miami, New York Jets

AFC North: Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati

AFC South: Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Tennessee

AFC West: Kansas City, Los Angeles Chargers, Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos

AFC Wildcards: Los Angeles Chargers, Pittsburgh

AFC Super Bowl Pick: Kansas City

NFC East: Dallas, Washington, Philadelphia, New York Giants

NFC North: Minnesota, Green Bay, Chicago, Detroit

NFC South: New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina, Tampa Bay

NFC West: Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco, Seattle, Ariz...

April 24, 2019 Posted in  Baseball, Hockey, NBA, NFL News

Ah, the old TV blackout. The source of frustration for all local sports fans as far as the local teams go. Let’s face it, world; Sports blackouts are so twentieth century. The population of metropolises has become too great to justify allowing blackouts to exist.

Well, then, how are teams going to fill up their stadiums? First off, run heavy promotional offers, like half-price admission, free hot dog and soda, bobblehead, free programs to the first X number of customers, etc… Teams can also require a viewer to fork over a monthly or annual fee for watching the games. But blacking games out is a huge PR nightmare.

Last I checked, the time machine has not been invented. It never will. Blackouts should not be around in the twenty-first century.

Game on, fans.

February 4, 2019 Posted in  NFL News

Last night’s Super Bowl brought back memories of my teenage years. Low scoring, dominant defense and special teams, and no major controversies. 13-3. There are those who say this is the worst Super Bowl ever. No, the worst Super Bowl ever, I think, was Super Bowl XXVII between the Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills. That game wasn’t even close. 52-17 Dallas. Dishonorable mention: Super Bowl XXXVII between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders. 48-21 Tampa Bay. Blowouts like those are more dubious than the ten point margin displayed in Super Bowl LIII. Defense isn’t pretty to a casual football fan, but to a die-hard who loves to see defense last night’s game was paradise.

The MVP of the Super Bowl was given to WR Julian Edleman, but one can make the case it should be shared amo...

September 6, 2018 Posted in  NFL News, Raiders

Football is here. Rejoice, fans.

Whether it is a bone headed trade like the Raiders have made five days ago with Khalil Mack or holdouts like the Steelers’ Le’Veon Bell, football unites us all.

So without further ado, here are my pictures for the 2018 NFL season.

(See “What were the Raiders thinking” where it says “The Raiders playoff hopes are survived by…” then the twelve teams I mentioned there, for my playoff prediction. The first four teams of the first six (AFC) are the division winners and the other two are the wild cards. Repeat cycle for the last six teams (NFC).

Super Bowl 53 Preview
Los Angeles Rams over Pittsburgh Steelers

Now for my world-famous First Pick in the next year’s NFL draft prediction (in this case, 2019):
Buffalo Bills

Are you ready for some football?

September 1, 2018 Posted in  NFL News, Raiders, Tributes

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today for the memorial service… to the Raiders’ 2018 playoff chances.

As you likely have heard by now, the Raiders traded Khalil Mack and two beans (2020 2nd and conditional 5th in 2020) for a bag of beans (2019 1st & 6th, 2020 1st & 3rd). I hope this resembles Jack and the Beanstalk more than a child’s book where the patriarch sells the farm for practically nothing.

This has the potential to be a good trade for both teams, if the Raiders hit on their draft picks that they’ve just acquired. Mack alone to the Bears was worth three 1st rounders. The Bears are not a playoff team, even with Mack, but the Raiders went from a boss to a janitor real fast.

In memory of the Oakland Raiders’ 2018 playoff chances, the NFL family requests donations to the New York ...

March 26, 2018 Posted in  NFL News, PSAs

There are injustices throughout our world but in sports the greatest injustice is that Colin Kaepernick still is not on an NFL roster as of the time of this writing. Yes, he knelt for the national anthem. Yes, he wore socks that depicted police officers as pigs. My message to NFL executives is “Get over it.” It’s been a year and the man has every right to have a career in the NFL. He is better than most starting QBs in the league.

As someone who has seen people of his own race supress people of Colin Kaepernick’s race for more than three centuries, allow me to say that these injustices have to end or else we all will suffer very severely for a very long time...

December 9, 2017 Posted in  Amateur Sports, NFL News, PSAs

On Monday, December 4, 2017, a football game was held in Cincinnati between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals. It featured multiple personal fouls, injuries, suspendable offenses, but, most damning, a player who may never walk again.

For the Shazier hit that paralyzed him from the waist down, he committed the cardinal sin of tackling/hitting: He had his head down on impact. Key thing to consider.

As for the nature, being masculine is OK. Being too much of that is a problem. Football is and embodies masculinity. The overmasculinity of teams like the Steelers and Bengals is toxic masculinity, while being smarter in hitting/tackling is acceptable masculinity.

Course of action: Implement a rule that if a player lowers his head to hit someone, that player is to be ejected...