Thank god for the Arizona Cardinals

Never thought I’d hear that line, but it’s been coming up a lot lately in talking to my cousin in Phoenix who’s a die-hard Suns fan. As Chris Webber so eloquently put it, “any time a 36-year old, 7-foot 400-pound man is your best player, that’s sad.”

Thanks for the insight C-Webb. Here’s to hoping you stay on Inside the NBA through the playoffs.

Anyways, back to the matter at hand.

I’m sick and tired of boring cold weather teams winning the Super Bowl, which is why it’s really refreshing to see a team like the Cards in the title game. Eagles may disagree with me on this, but Zona really is a lot of fun to watch with Fitzy catching ANYTHING thrown his way, Kurt Warner playing like he did in 2001 (can’t go against god and puppies) and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie putting his San Diego cousin to shame.

So I’m going to call this before anyone else does. Cards 28-17.

Let the ranting commence.

YEAH ANDY!

UPDATE: Roddick loses as Federer cruises 6-2, 7-5, 7-5. So much for turning a new leaf. At least the world can revel in another Federer-Nadal final. (as long as Verdasco doesn’t pull the upset, which shouldn’t happen because Rafa is rolling.)

MY BOY Andy Roddick pulled off a great upset yesterday, defeating his rival Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the Australian open. Djokovic is definitely a rising star and was the winner of last year’s Australian open. I think most people would consider him as the player closest to breaking the Nadal-Federer lock, although there’s still probably a huge gap between those two players and everyone else. Some would consider Djokovic to be one of the more abrasive players on tour..especially after his pleasant encounter with the crowd at last year’s US Open

Also, this isn’t really his fault, but check out what some of his fans did. SH&% gets thrown son.

Granted, Roddick’s upset was aided by the extreme heat during the match. Temperatures reached 130 degrees and Djokovic appeared to tire. Djokovic retired trailing 2 sets to 1, and down 2-1 in the 4th set. Meh. Having Djokovic retire takes a little bit out of Roddick’s win, but still a great effort. As big of a Roddick fan as I am, I’m not sure how he’ll do against Federer. Federer appears to be rolling following an earlier 5 set scare, winning 6-3, 6-0, and 6-0 in quarterfinal. Here’s hoping that Andy can continue his great run and work back to the top.

Seriously?

While the Houston Comets – the most decorated team in WNBA history – folded this offseason, it appears that this isn’t a league-wide trend.

Check out the Seattle Storm, who have just signed a 10-year extension with Key Arena.

Lucky Storm fans. I mean, I can’t think of a more spirited, devoted and knowledgeable fan base. They definitely deserve to keep their team.

The last Tebow post for a while (maybe?)

I’m sorry to produce another Tebow post, but despite the huge amount of Tebow bashing that’s been going on, some people actually think he’s got a chance to suceed in the NFL. First, I’ll admit I’m a huge Tebow fan – and even as a huge fan, I think he gets far far far too much media attention/love. But that’s fine, it’s not really his fault that he’s a student-athelete who hasn’t gotten into trouble during his time at one of the premier college football programs in the nation, shattered Florida high school records, has a law named after him in Alabama, won 2 national championships, was the 1st sophomore to win a Heisman (and had the most first place votes this year (although I think Colt McCoy really deserved it this year), and spends his offseasons organizing charity flag football tournamets/mission work.

That’s terrific for him and an amazing list of accomplishments. But what about his NFL future?

Here’s an excerpt from Peter King’s weekly NFL column about the Tebow situation:

“I think Florida quarterback Tim Tebow made the right decision to stay in school, only because so many college players leave early and later regret it. But I think it’s nuts to hear the speculation that he might not have been picked until the third or fourth round had he entered the draft. That’s where Mel Kiper put him the other day. I’m not blaming Mel; there’s lots of that talk out there. But to suggest he’s some sort of maladroit (there’s your PKWOTW) and marginal prospect is demeaning and downright wrong. I will bet a lot of money that when Tebow comes out, he won’t get past New England in the second round; as much as Bill Belichick is around Urban Meyer and that program, I bet he’s become a huge Tebow fan as a football player — quarterback, goal-line back, something.

I agree with Meyer’s assessment: “When I hear people say, ‘I wonder if he can play in the first round,’ then I don’t know what football is. I don’t have any idea what happens in the NFL.” You tell ‘em, Urban. We’ve got Dan Orlovsky and Shaun Hill and Tyler Thigpen starting in the NFL, and we’re debating if a 6-2, 240-pound determined winner should be picked among the top 64 picks in the draft? Interesting. “

Tim Layden has a new article that brings up some interesting points about the potential evolution of the NFL game; the Wildcat formation is a package that many teams have at least incorporated into their offensive arsenal based on some of its early success (granted, as teams had more time to prepare for this offense, the Wildcat lost some of its allure). With so many run/pass dual threat qbs emerging in high school and college football..will NFL offenses change to allow these qbs to succeed?

The Tim Tebow experiment

They have come out of the quicksand and stolen this division…

sorry I just gave away the ending.

but fun video to watch.

Playoff Picks

The NFL playoffs have shaped up quite nicely this year with no clear super-bowl favorites and a couple of “streaking” teams. Here are my picks for the first round.

(I’m using the lines that are on centsports, because that’s what I care about)

Unfortunately, the Redskins cheerleaders season ended with the team

1<1?

The Pac-10, dubbed as one of the weakest conferences-major or not-in college football this year, just completed a sweep of its bowl games now that USC manhandled Penn State in the Rose Bowl (don’t let the 14-pt margin of victory fool you – it wasn’t that close). Granted, the Pac-10 only sent half of its conference to bowl games (that’s 5 games since the Pac-10 actually has TEN teams. think about that, big 10), but the results were nevertheless impressive.

Oregon and Oregon St. both beat teams with higher rankings, and unranked Arizona defeated a BYU team that could have been a BCS-buster had a few plays gone differently over the course of the season. Cal and Southern Cal were both heavy favorites who lived up to their billing.

(WARNING: I earlier promised to give up making a national championship push for USC. I lied.)

Granted, stellar play in the postseason doesn’t detract from the fact that this conference still boasts 0-12 Washington and 2-10 Washington St. But it does make USC’s loss to the Beavers during the regular season seem pretty respectable, at least on par with a loss to, say, Mississippi. So why does the Trojans’ loss mean so much more? USC was never in the national title discussion after that loss, but Florida jumped back in very quickly. I agree, the past two years, the Trojans doomed themseleves with losses to Stanford (2007) and Oregon State (2006), but this year they lost to a much more quality opponent, as the Beavers proved to be. But somehow, one bad weekend in September for the Pac-10 and the memory of bad conference losses in the past unfairly ruined USC’s standing in the polls, effectively ruling them out of the national title race after just three games.

Watch the Rose Bowl. USC is as good as any team in the country.

I hate the BCS.