Playoffs?!?!?

 

Hello Football Fans!

I already miss college football.  We’re still over 7 months away from live college football…and that’s just sad.  It’s as sad as old strippers.

Speaking of strippers, I just passed on a trip to Vegas to hang with my buddy W. Gibson Magill for the weekend.  (He had a free place to stay for the weekend; I just needed to fly out).  I had to pass and make what some people would call “an adult decision”.  I’ve come to find out that this is just a sneaky way of explaining why you can’t do something because you’re either too broke or too tired.  (In this case, it was a little of both…along with the fact that my boss is in town early next week.)

I have never been to Vegas.  I know.  It’s crazy.  I like to gamble, I like to drink, and I like to stare at large breasts…and I haven’t been to Vegas.  It’s something that needs to be taken care of very soon.  And this bums me out as I know that I’m not only missing out on a GREAT weekend, but I’m missing out on a chance to hang out with a GREAT friend (and also a great jeffreythegreek blog).

Sorry Gibby.

I hate being an adult.

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A Few Hawkeye Updates

Back-up Safety David Cato and back-up to the back-ups Running Back Josh Brown have left the football team.  Brown I understand, but Cato really stinks because it hurts our depth, and I believe that kid had a lot of talent.  Too bad.

It seems like the Hawks are out of the running for Seantrell Henderson, the gigantic OT out of Cretin-Derham here in St. Paul.  The rumor has it that Ferentz has decided that Seantrell’s ever-growing head – along with his over-bearing father – is just not worth the risk.  I get it.  He’ll either go to USC or Notre Dame – and fit in GREAT there.  I just don’t want him to go to Ohio State.

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If you like:

1)      Quentin Tarantino

2)      WW II stuff

3)      Great movie characters

Then you have to go see the movie Inglourious Basterds.  It’s just fantastic.  Brad Pitt’s character is an A-, and Christolph Waltz’s character – COL. Hans Landa – is nothing short of pure celluloid gold.

(Hey…football season is almost over, but the winter isn’t.  We all have to find something else to do.  Sex only lasts several minutes, and that’s when I’ve been drinking.)

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I have received several sad, sad reports that Colt McCoy has proposed to his girlfriend, Rachel Glandorf.

Good for Colt…I guess?  Even if he goes later in the 1^st round or 2^nd round…he’s going to be a millionaire.  I’m just not sure this is the time to anchor yourself down.  What’s wrong with these kids these days doing the right thing?!?

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National Football League

My first words on the NFL all year!  Wow…I’m sure you’re all waiting with bated breath.

For the most part, these games have really sucked.  If I would have put my picks out into cyber-space before the playoffs, you would see that I’d be 5-3 right now.  I was 2-2 in the first round, and 3-1 this past weekend, with the one loss being the Choking Chargers.  I’m sure you’re all like me, as your heart still aches for poor Hawkeye Great Nate Kaeding after another horrible playoff effort last Sunday.  But then I was back at work on Monday afternoon dealing with a grumpy distributor and putting 350 miles on my car, and I remembered that Nate is a multi-millionaire for swinging his right leg 50 times a year.  I don’t feel so bad for him anymore.

And how about Shonn Greene?!?  The kid is a BEAST.  The only thing that I was concerned with Greene going into the NFL was his break-away speed…and WOW has he answered that question!  With his power and vision that all of us Hawk fans have known for years, if you add in just how much tread he has left on his tires (since he only ran one year in college and a half a year this year for the Jets), the sky is the limit for this kid.  My brother Daron and I already had a dorky conversation wondering how high he’ll go in Fantasy Football drafts next year!

So along with Colts stud TE Dallas Clark and the Vikings OLB Chad Greenway, if the Vikings win on Sunday we will have a strong Hawkeye flavor in Florida yet again in this young 2010!

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I have to admit, I want to see a Colts vs. Vikings Super Bowl.  I know Favre-a-palooza would get old…but the Super Bowl coverage gets old no matter what, so we might as well have a 40-year-old guy that’s willing to do THIS after a big win:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymoyf6JIHKQ

But I will secretly snicker if the Vikings lose.  Why?  Let me explain:

Minnesota people use the same damn anti-Iowa lines over and over again.  This JUST happened last night.  After a good workout, I stopped by the liquor store to get a 12-Pack of Peroni to sip on as I ate some leftover spaghetti.  I don’t drink at all Sunday-Wednesday, but I like to a few brews as a reward on Thursday nights.  So I’m in line with my workout clothes still on – an old Iowa sweatshirt.  The cashier is a 50-something white dude.

Dude: “Ahhh…Iowa huh?”

JTG (already on pins and needles): “Yyyup.”

Dude: “My wife is from Iowa.”

JTG: (still annoyed, but giving it hope): “Oh…great.”

Dude: “Dubuque.  Do you know what IOWA stands for?”

JTG (IMMEDIATELY PISSED): “I’ve lived up here for over 9 years…I’ve heard every single recycled Iowa joke…”

Dude: “Oh really?  I bet you haven’t heard this one.”

JTG: “I bet I have.”

Dude: “Which one do you know?”

JTG: “There are a few.  Idiots Out Walking Around is the most common stupid one.”

Dude: “Nope!  I Owe the Word and Apology!  Hahaha!”

JTG (looking like Jack Nicholson from “A Few Good Men”): “YUP.  LIKE I SAID…I HAVE HEARD THEM ALL.  AND THEY ARE ALL RUDE.”

Dude: “Ummm…well…Dubuque is a really nice town.”

I just grab my beer and walk out.

SOOOooo…that’s what I’m talking about.  Another common one is how Minnesotans make fun of Iowans because we follow the Hawkeyes so much.  They then get the conversation off of the Gophers – who they know are a disgrace – and turn it on the Vikings.  I struggled with this, until I came up with perhaps the greatest ‘mouth-shutter’ of all-time.  It goes something like this:

Minny d-bag: “Who cares about college?  The Vikings play on Sundays!”

Me: “Yea, yea, yea.”

Minny d-bag: “Ha!  Iowa doesn’t even HAVE an NFL team!”

Me: “True.  But Iowa’s NFL team has just as many Super Bowls as Minnesota’s NFL team!”

It literally stops them in their tracks EVERY SINGLE TIME.  Just typing it puts a smile on my face.  And if the Vikings win it all, that golden nugget will have been taken away from me.

So screw it, I’m cheering for the Saints.  Sorry Galligan, Seleski, Higgins, etc…

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New York Jets @ Indianapolis Colts

2:00 PM / CBS / Line: Colts by 8

This really is an intriguing match-up.  Why?  Because it’s Peyton Manning vs. a great 3-4 Defense; you see Peyton has had problems with the 3-4 in the playoffs in the past, and the J-E-T-S are playing the 3-4 better than anybody right now.

But we all know how this game will feel.  Even IF the game is dictated by the Jets – a low-scoring slugfest where there are no long drives on either side – we’re never really going to feel like the Colts and Peyton Manning are out of it.  Darrelle Revis is certainly an amazing CB, but he can take out Reggie Wayne all he wants, because there’s nobody on the Jets defense that can cover our boy Dallas Clark.   I believe the Jets will have to come up with several turnovers and special teams plays to win this game on the road in a dome stadium.

And I just don’t think they can do it.  They have good shot to cover the 8…but I’m not betting on that either.

Colts Cover:  Colts 23  -  Jets 13

 

 

Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints

5:40 PM / FOX / Line: Saints by 3.5

I gotta tell ya, it’s been fun around Minneapolis the past few weeks.  Although I’m obviously NOT a Vikings fan, there’s something special about living in a city where their NFL football team is making a run in the playoffs.  I saw a bus with “G-O V-I-K-I-N-G-S” scrolling across the top.  They lead the nightly news with any kind of Vikings news they can share.  And going on sales calls, you can have a 10 minute football conversation with a near stranger at the drop of a hat.  It’s pretty cool.

As for the game?  I really do think this will be a good one.  I don’t believe that it’s going to be a 42 to 41 shoot-out like some people are saying, but there should be some good offensive talent on display.

If this game was in the Metrodome, I would be all over the Vikes.  However, they’re not only on the road, but they’re in the Superdome, which is packed with perhaps the craziest/rowdiest NFL fans around.  Mix in the fact that it’s the late game?  Wow.  They might have to put bouncers in every isle of the stadium.

The big question here seems to be this: Can the Vikings get to Drew Brees?  I don’t think so, as Brees gets the ball out too quickly, and I’m also afraid that d-line starters Ray Edwards and Kevin Williams are gimpy at best.  So if the Saints score a ton of points and that  means the Packers…er…Vikings and Brett Favre have to get into a shoot-out?…I don’t like that if I’m a Vikings fan.  ESPECIALLY if it’s true that Percey Harvin is out with migraines.  Ouch and ouch.

What I would like if I WERE a Vikings fan?  Welp…I’ve heard that a little-known-fact with the Saints offense is that it’s all set-off by the success of their running game.  I understand that Reggie Bush got off last week.  However, that was against the Cardinals defense.  This is the Vikings run defense.  I just don’t see that happening.  Also potentially good for the Vikings?  The fact that it doesn’t take a ton of audibles to run the ball, and I’m not so sure that Adrian Peterson isn’t ready to go OFF against that suspect Saints defense.  In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that he HAS TO go off for the Vikings to win.

Too many “if’s” for the Vikings.

Saints Cover:  Saints 34  -  Vikings 28

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HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

GO HAWKS!

-Jeffrey the Greek!