That Was The (Football) Weekend That Was

I am pretty sure that you are expecting my ruminations on the football weekend that just was, and that is just what you are going to get, but why, you are no doubt asking, am I leading with the picture above, albeit one of the more famous photos in American political history?

For you youngsters out there, this was taken on election night in 1948 when just about everyone thought New York Governor Tom Dewey (aka, The Man on Top of the Wedding Cake)  would defeat President Harry Truman and become the nation's 34th President.  As you can see, the Chicago Tribune even issued their early edition on election night proclaiming Dewey's victory.  Again for you youngsters, in 1948 there were no computers, exit polls, or Nate Silver.  As even the most history challenged among us surely know, Harry Truman won the election.

All of this is a lead in to summarizing the results of the predictions I made on Friday for the four NFL playoff games of the weekend.  I will save you the trouble of going and looking it up, but I went 1-3 on the weekend, and in my finest "Dewey Defeats Truman" moment, I made the following authoritative statement:

 Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49'ers

Aaron Rodgers vs. Colin Kapernick.  Need I say more?  Should be another easy win for the PACKERS.

Yeah.

I even misspelled Colin Kaepernick's name, a mistake that I will surely never make again.

Some quickie comments on the games themselves.....

• While I was rooting for Seattle against Falcons, I was delighted to see Pete Carroll get bitten on the ass when he called that time out to ice the Falcon kicker at the end of the game, only to see the kicker miss the field goal, which would have won the game for Seattle.  Given a second chance, the kicker made it, Falcons win, Seahawks lose, Pete Carroll looks like an first class dunce.  Maybe this will stop these "brilliant" coaches from  employing this insipid bit of strategy.
• Next time all you Steelers fans want to run Ben out of town for those inopportune interceptions in the Cowboys and Bengals games this season, think about that one Peyton Manning threw in OT in Denver on Saturday.
• Maybe it's time we stop ridiculing Joe Flaco's abilities as an NFL QB.  He really undressed Denver in the waning moments of regulation.
• Same for Matt Ryan in Atlanta.
• OK, that Denver game.  Tied with 31 seconds and two times out in your pocket, and Peyton Manning at quarterback, and John Fox chooses to nave Manning take a knee and go to OT.  Are you kidding me?  Don't you take at least one shot down field to try to get into FG position?
• (Did you notice that I said "times out" in the above bullet?  That, friends, is the correct plural of the term "time out" - you can look it up - but I don't think that there is a single sportscaster in America who doesn't mistakenly say "time outs".  The last guy I heard say "times out" was Ray Scott, and he stopped doing network broadcasts in the late 1970's and has been dead since 1998.)
• Getting back to Colin Kaepernick,   He was easily the most outstanding player of the weekend.  Wish he wouldn't strike that pose when he scores a touchdown, but he's just a kid, after all, and I'm a grumpy old man.  In any event, I can't wait to see him play again next Sunday.
• Only words I can use to describe the New England Patriots:  ruthlessly efficient.
• Of the eight teams playing this weekend, only the Houston Texans looked like they didn't deserve to be this far along in the Playoffs.
• I know that I am in a distinct minority here, but I don't mind the Harbaugh brothers. They are obviously good coaches, and I like it that they are emotional on the sidelines (as opposed to robots like Bill Bellichick and Nick Saben), and while I am not a fan of the Baltimore Ravens, I think it would be a cool story line to have brothers opposing each other as Head Coaches in the Super Bowl, although it would be a story that would be totally and completely beaten to death in the run up to the game.

In closing, let me weigh in on the controversy surrounding Brent Musberger's observations about Alabama QB A. J. McCarron's girlfriend.  Yeah, maybe it was creepy, and yes, he definitely went on too long with it, but he was broadcasting a game that had ceased to be a competitive contest, and he had to talk about something, right?  He got going and he just couldn't stop.  It happens, and who knows what YOU would do in front of a live microphone in such a situation.  The suits at ESPN who are reprimanding Musberger and apologizing for what he said, maybe ought to reconsider all the cleavage-and-cameltoe shots they give us of cheerleaders, especially the pole dancers who "cheerlead" for NFL teams, on the sidelines before they get too sanctimonious over Brent Musberger.