The Extra Point

Apparently our sister site Techlife knows how to party with the right folks, at least for gadgets.  They got an exclusive unboxing photo spread from a VIP who got an iPhone just hours after Stevie Jobs announced it.  Check out the pix.  More over there.

8 teams are left in the playoffs, and you’re kind of bummed that you didn’t jump on the Fantasy Football Playoff pool action…so what do you do?

Quick, find 3 friends.  Now you and your friends each get to pick 2 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, and 2 K from the remaining playoff teams.  The catch (and even Terrell Owens can’t drop this one) is that you can only select one player from each of the remaining teams.

So, once you take Tom Brady  at your QB1 slot, you can’t have any more Patriots, for example. (of course Tom Brady is not someone to mess with, but of course we did in our first post ever.)

This is a unique way of having a little Playoff Fantasy Football fun and all you need to do is come up with a simple scoring system, say 6 pts for every TD and 1 pt for every 10 yards, 3 pts for a FG and 1 pt for an XP.

Enjoy

Here is the last play of the Boise State - Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl game as seen from a fan of Boise State from the stands.  (Some mature language).

If any finds a good summary link pass it on. YouTube pulled our last video.

Raise your hand if you know who’s fantasy is on the right?  More on that in a second.

Fantasy Football has mostly concluded for the season, except for those of us lucky enough to be participants in fantasy football playoff leagues (more on that in another post).  But, for those of us that are fantasy football 12-steppers, read Fantasy Sports Publications’ the origins of our fall-time passion. (warning! PDF)

The pioneers of Fantasy football sure had it tough, what with no fantasy football magazines, countless self-proclaimed experts, 24-hour sports networks, and of course the Internet.  And with so much less information at their fingertips, they still managed to draft offensive linemen, not to mention, IDP too!  Wow!  Thanks to fspnet.com for this great history lesson.  By the way, you can see the initial draft order and all players selected, including the immortal Frank Gifford!

Did you guess Susan Ward? That’s a good off-season fantasy if I ever saw one.

  Jimmy the Greek time!!!

OK, ok, I know everyone and their brother puts their picks online, just to try to prove that we are more of an expert than the next guy you might read.  Anyway, with that said - here are my expert picks!  I will even give you scores, so you can see how smart (or more likely incredibly off) I am.

Kansas City vs. Indianapolis

Anyone that has Larry Johnson in a playoff fantasy league will be happy, but that is about all that will go well for the Chiefs.  The Chiefs are just happy to be in the playoffs (there is no way they expected to be still playing this weekend when Week 17 started).  They don’t have the defense to match up with the Colts.  Plus, for the true kicker, they have Herm Edwards leading them, the only NFL head coach that can make Tony Dungy look like a playoff genius!

Colts 38 - Chiefs 24

Dallas vs. Seattle

I’m sorry, I know a lot of people are saying this could go either way, as both Dallas and Seattle finished the season 1-3.  But let’s look closer.  Seattle did play badly in Weeks 14 & 15, but in Week 16, they lost to the best team in the NFL, the Chargers, by 3, then walloped Tampa to end the year.  In those 4 games, they were outscored by a total of 3 points.  Now, let’s look at Dallas.

Besides beating an Atlanta team that was more schizophrenic than most teams in recent memory, they also went 1-3, but lost their last two.  Plus, they were actually playing for something in Week 17, and got spanked at home by the Lions!  In those 4 games, they were outscored by 39 points, and their vaunted defense gave up an average of 33 ppg over the 4 weeks.  They are reeling more than people think.  Add in one of the best homefield advantages in the NFL (although they were only 5-3 there this year), and this one looks easy to me.

Seahawks 30 - Dallas 17

New York (A) vs New England

This one should be a good one.  The Jets have played New England very tough this year, splitting the season (with the Jets win coming in New England), and Mangini seems to relish playing Belichick the way Shanahan loves giving it to the Raiders.  BUUUTTTTT… you don’t pick against Belichick and Brady in week one of the playoffs.  They are the Genius and the Golden Boy.  Brady is the anti-Manning, no choke in him.  Can’t happen, right?  (although Brady has taken some lumps this year, including losing his hot-as-hell Hollywood girl)  Hmmmm… nah, gotta go with the Pats.

Patriots 20 - Jets 13

New York (N) vs. Philadelphia

Again, these are just teams moving in different directions.  The Giants went 2-6 to end the year, plus you can visibly tell they hate playing for Coughlin.  The Eagles have won 5 straight, including beating these Giants by 14 in Week 15.  I really don’t see any need to get into specifics of offense/defense, etc.  One team is playing well and for each other, one team is not with a lot of dissension on the sidelines.  The Giants should be able to stay close though, maybe the power of Tiki can allow them to pull off the upset.  Otherwise, it will be a sad end for this team, and more importantly, for Barber’s career.

Eagles 20 - Giants 16

I know, I took all 4 of the home teams, and road dogs have done very well all year in the NFL.  Maybe the playoffs will work the opposite way. 

In this year of no heavy favorites to even make it to SuperBowl XLI, let alone win it - it could be hard to figure out who to root for (unless you are maybe from San Diego, which the way I see it, is the only strong favorite of the 12 teams to make the SuperBowl). 

Anyway, point is, the NFL understands this is a tough year for the average fan to pick a bandwagon - so they have decided to help you out!  Kind of silly, but actually pretty goofy and fun for the No Fun League.

Has to be one of the craziest finishes to a college bowl game ever!

Fiesta Bowl - Boise St vs. Oklahoma

I can’t believe how many teams spit the bit this past week.  From playoff teams just utterly crapping the bed to bad teams (see Cowboys, Dallas and Bears, Chicago), to teams just needing to win at home to stay in the playoff picture or go to the playoffs (see Bengals, Cincinnati and Broncos, Denver), this weekend was painful to watch. 

I am trying to absolve the Bears a bit (hey, I’m a Chicagoan).  Football is a hard enough sport to play - play it without any motivation, and it becomes much, much harder.  Let’s face it, the Bears could have lost by 100 and it wouldn’t have mattered, and the Pack was playing for the last hurrah of Favre.

Easy to forget about the Bears when you have the Cowboys though!  Still in it to win the division when their game started, and they just totally shat themselves in front of the home fans.  What makes this particularly galling though, is that it was vs. the Lions!  The freakin’ LIONS!!??  The Lions of the 2nd worst 6-season stretch in NFL history?!  The Lions who can’t even lock up the #1 pick correctly!  See what the Cowboys fans are saying today.

And then we move to the real chokers!!

Cincinnati should be in the playoffs right now.  They easily could have beaten the Broncos last weekend (should have at least gotten into OT), but still only had to beat the Steelers at home to get in (thanks again to the Broncos!).  But what happened???   They

 !!!!!  (See what their fans are saying about them!)

Then, we have the Broncos.  After that bit of luck against the aforementioned Bengals, all they have to do is beat the 49′ers at home to get in.  Most people would view that as a makeable putt.  Plus, in Denver?!!  Aren’t they supposed to be incredible in Denver - cold, lack of oxygen, loud fans, etc.?  But whoops!!!

As my man Ozzie would say - !!!

Should make for some interesting playoff picks, since about half the teams in the playoffs this year don’t look like they belong. 

First in a series… 

For those of you already having fantasy sports withdrawal symptoms from the end of the fantasy football season - What If Sports provides the ultimate in fantasy team ownership.

 Hardball Dynasty

They have some interesting games, including dynasty type games for college football and basketball, plus fantasy leagues in which you can draft players form the entire history of the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL.  Cool stuff!!!  And pretty cheap as well.  Might be able to tide you over until the FF magazines come out next summer!  I am signed up for a Hardball league in the Greenberg League - join in!

I am also signed up for a college basketball dynasty - you start in DIII and try to move your way up!  I am tiny Illinois College in the Tarkanian World. 

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So, just to make sure we are all clear - here is how the playoff picture in the NFL shapes up for the last week of the season. 

All I can say to this is - WHAT!!!!!!! 

Even our intrepid leader can’t figure it out!