The NFL regular season once again featured a team that come from nowhere to make the playoffs. This year's suprise was the San Diego Chargers, who turned their fortunes around even thought their supposed savior, rookie quarterback Phillip Rivers, barely saw the playing field. Drew Brees resurrected his career, Antonio Gates came from nowhere to set a record for TE TDs, and Ladainian Tomlinson showed once again why he is possibly the best back in the NFL. The Pittsburg Steelers were another surprise team, going 15-1 even though they had to go to rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger sooner than they would have liked. The Steelers showed how a solid running game and stiff defense are still what are best to win in the NFL. The biggest disappointment in the AFC was certainly Kansas City. The Chiefs offense is still exceptional, but slightly less dominant than last year. The defense still stinks and will till they get some playmakers; scheme can only go so far. The NFC went pretty much how I predicted it at the start of the season. The biggest surprise to me was how much trouble the Seahawks had to win the West. I figured they would breeze to the title, but they are as inconsistent as any team in the NFL. Although I picked the Falcons to win the South, I didn't expect it to be so easy. Having Michael Vick healthly all season made a huge difference, but the acquistion of Rod Coleman to make the defense better was just as big. The Saints missed the playoffs again to make my prediction fail, but at least they showed some heart in winning their last 4 games to get close. Now here are my choices for awards. MVP: Peyton Manning -- The I'd rather have Tom Brady crowd is living in a dream world. Defensive POY: Ed Reed -- Now definately the best player on the Raven's defense. Rookie Of the Year: Roethlisberger -- Not losing a game is amazing. Coach of the Year: Jim Mora -- The toughest category due to Cowher, Schottenheimer, etc, but rookie coaches aren't supposed to cruise to division titles. And don't forget, the Falcons were 3-1 against the AFC, including beating the Chargers and Broncos.
My playoff predictions: The Rams and Packers win in week 1 in the NFC and both lose
in week 2. The Falcons edge the Owensless Eagles in the Championship Game. In the AFC,
the Colts and Chargers win in week 1 and the Colts upset the Patriots in week 2. The
Steelers win the Championship Game in a close one. One last note on the past season.
I am so glad the Panthers didn't make the playoffs, since I got so tired of the pundits
talking about how great they were to overcome their bad start. Yeah they had lots
of injuries and still played hard til the end, but they never beat a winning team.
Well it's March, so it must be time for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, yep, March
Madness. After tuning in to several games this first weekend of the tourney, I remember
why I've lost most of my interest in college basketball and basketball in general.
The play resembles "street ball" more and more. Walking, carrying the ball, poor free-
throw shooting, and trash talking dominate. But the biggest thing I noticed by far is
the rotten state of the officiating. The refs let the guys kill each other under the
basket and call touch fouls 30 feet in front. The only consistent thing about the
officiating is the inconsistency. The refs may not call things in favor of the higher
seeds on purpose or even conciously, but they get most of the calls go their way.
I know the higher seeds are the better teams, but the numbers are way out of whack.
The biggest problem is not even calling obvious fouls. I saw guys get pushed in the back
under the basket with a ref looking right at them. I saw a player pulled to the floor
and no foul called. Pure and simply, the officials are horrible and you would assume
that the tourney gets the cream of the crop.