The reign of 18-1 has come to an end as it has now been trumped by a new standard of Epic Fail:

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What if I told you that there was a quarterback in the NFL right now that is in the middle of a fantastic year, his best since 2002? Kerry Collins? Kurt Warner? No. Neither of them.

What if I told you this quarterback had a passer rating of 96.4, second best in the league? Peyton Manning? No. Ben Roethlisberger? No.

What if I told you this quarterback has thrown for over 3500 yards this season? Brett Favre? Drew Brees? Jay Cutler? No, no and no.

What if I told you that this mistake-free QB has only thrown for 7 interceptions this year? Jeff Garcia? Matt Schaub? No.

This incredibly accurate QB leads the league in completion percentage with 67.4. Trent Edwards? Matt Cassel? Phillip Rivers? None of them are even close.

This ultra-efficient QB moves the chains effectively, getting a first down on 37.8% of his plays, tied for third in efficiency. Jake Delhomme? Matt Ryan? Nope.

What if I told you that this QB is my pick for the NFL MVP? That would only make sense to you, right? If I told you that, for whatever reason, this QB isn't even in the DISCUSSION for that award, would you be as shocked as I am?

Do you have any clue who I'm talking about at all? Do you need a hint?

Ok. Here's a hint. Before this QB was signed in free agency, the team he has now led to the playoffs only won one game. Although this team added several free agents, he is one of the very few starters to be added to the squad through either free agency or the draft. Do you know who I'm talking about now? The man who was ousted by Brett Favre, who will be watching the playoffs at home this year. I'm talking about Chad Pennington.

How anyone but Pennington could be MVP is beyond me.

Peyton Manning? Sorry, but a guy who quarterbacked his team to a 4-4 record in the first half and then suddenly started lighting it up when his schedule got easier isn't that impressive to me. Especially when he was the biggest reason for the team's failures early in the year.

Adrian Peterson? There's a case to be made there, but I don't think it's as strong as with Pennington.

James Harrison? No doubt he's an important part of the Steeler defense, but remove him from the equation and the offense still has LaMarr Woodley to worry about on the other side. Lawrence Timmons isn't too shabby for a fill-in, either...on most teams, he would be a starter. Harrison is valuable, but not the MOST valuable.

Troy Polamalu? A more viable candidate than Harrison, but again, the Steelers defense would only be slightly less dominant without him.

Kurt Warner? Sure, if the season ended nine weeks ago.

There should be no debate. The NFL's MVP would be Pennington.

It won't be, of course. His name isn't Peyton Manning. Chad Pennington isn't a household name. He has a reputation for not being able to throw the deep ball, and for some reason MVP balloters consider that more important than actual results. Results like taking a 1-15 team to the playoffs.

Aside from what I've mentioned above, here is my further case for Pennington.

• Chad is only the second passer in Dolphins history to throw for over 3500 yards. The first? Just some guy named Marino.

• Pennington just ousted his former team, who was going to start Kellen freakin' Clemens over him before they signed Brett Favre, to secure the first division championship for the Dolphins since 2000.

• Many people will claim that Miami's defense is too much of a factor for Pennington to get serious consideration. My retort? Miami is trotting out largely the same defense they had last year. They were a great defensive team last year as well, but that was only enough to beat the offensively inept Ravens in their only win of the year. The turnaround for this team came from the offense, and it certainly wasn't spurred by Canadian football superstar Ricky Williams.

• Chad Pennington had a month to learn the Dolphins offense before the preseason started. One month. Would you expect him to have the year his has on a brand new team with a brand new offense under a brand new coach using brand new, exotic formations? No, me neither.
  

Simply put, if Chad Pennington doesn't have an MVP trophy to put on his mantel, it will be one of the biggest injustices in NFL history.

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For those who love the Simpsons, or just love social commentary, check out this episode that just recently aired.



It features Mr. Burns buying a basketball team, moving them, and then expecting the city to provide him with a new state-of-the-art arena. Seriously, watch this, it's worth at least a dozen laughs.

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Well, playoff time is upon us for the NFL. So far, seven teams have clinched playoff berths, and homefield advantage has been determined in both conferences. Today, I'll be taking a look at the six teams that have made the playoffs so far. From here on out, whenever a team clinches a playoff berth, I'll do my part to make an analysis and a prediction of what could happen with that team.

AFC

1. Tennessee Titans

It's amazing to me that this team doesn't get more Super Bowl hype. They have one of the best records in the NFL, have one of the league's best defenses, have a great running game, and they just beat a Super Bowl favorite to clinch homefield in the AFC. And yet, all we hear about them is "Kerry Collins is better than we thought." Whenever I talk to friends, they think the Titans will lose their first playoff game. Make no mistake, people, this team is dangerous. Even without two of their starters on the offensive line, they beat the Steelers convincingly. True, a lot of that has to do with turnovers, but they were getting great penetration into the backfield that entire game. The big question mark is whether or not Haynesworth and VandenBosch will be 100% in the playoffs. If they aren't, this team is at a disadvantage. If they are, this team is every bit as dangerous as their record indicates. To make a horrible joke, remember the Titans.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers

The aforementioned Super Bowl favorites beaten by the Titans are, nevertheless, also a dangerous football team. However, their value is entirely wrapped up in their defense. If the cliche holds true and defense wins championships, then this is a Super Bowl team hands down.

However, the big Achilles heel with this team is the offense. This is a team that, in a word, has no offense, and it's all due to their terrible line. This team hasn't been able to run the ball all season...they have yet to have a 100 yard rusher, and with only one game to go in the regular season, I doubt they will.

The one saving grace is the passing game, which can be described as average with spurts of greatness. Ben Roethlisberger is having a statistically bad year, far below his performance levels from last year. However, he is consistently able to do enough to sustain a lead and let his defense carry the team from there, and the defense is good enough to put Roethlisberger in a position to do that. In a way, they feed off of each other.

What we do know is that Big Ben is better than his offensive line is allowing him to play. For evidence of this, look no further than this statistic: In five years as an NFL starter, Ben Roethlisberger has engineered seventeen game-winning drives in the fourth quarter. He's had four such masterpieces this year alone, the most dramatic being a 92-yard drive against the Ravens. Ben can throw, and his receivers can catch. If the offensive line can just play average football, the Steelers have a good chance of making the Super Bowl.

3. Indianapolis Colts

What would the NFL playoffs be without the Colts? Consistent Super Bowl favorites, the hype machine is once again out in full force this season. Regardless of what happens the rest of this season, the Indianapolis Colts will be the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs. It's looking like a tough break for them, as in their first game they will be playing either the Broncos or the Chargers in an away matchup, followed by the Titans in another away matchup. That's a pretty rough stretch. It's worse when you consider that their matchup in the AFC Championship, should they make it that far, will most likely be an away game against either the Steelers or the Ravens.

Much is made of how the Colts have been on a tear lately, currently riding an 8-game winning streak. This is especially due to the fact that over their first 8 games, the Colts went 4-4. However, much less attention is paid to a fact which I think needs heavy consideration: During this 8-game stretch, the Colts have only played two teams with winning records. In fact, this entire season, the Colts have only beaten four teams with winning records. This isn't bad when you consider that their cupcake schedule only includes six teams that have winning records in the first place.

My point? The Colts aren't for real, and their record has been padded by victories against weak opponents, including the Texans and Jaguars twice as well as one matchup against the Lions, who are pretty much the NFL equivelant to the free space in Bingo. And they even had trouble beating the free space! Am I giving the Colts much of a shot at the Super Bowl? Not at all.

NFC

1. New York Giants

The defending Super Bowl champions have had a roller coaster of a season when it comes to what the media thinks of them. First, they weren't the best team in their division. After some dominating victories, they were a lock for the playoffs. Despite losing two major contributors to their pass rush from last year, they have proven to have one of the most dangerous defensive lines in football. Despite losing Jeremy Shockey, their tight end position is just fine, thank you very much. After the Giants clinched their division, they were a lock to be repeat champs.

Then, Plaxico Buress happened. Now the media isn't sure if the Giants can recover, and frankly, neither am I.

First, let's look at what the Giants still have without Plax. The Giants still have an outstanding pass rush, and a good defense beyond that. They still have a fantastic, dynamic running game. They still have a good short passing game.

Now, let's look at what they DON'T have without Plax, namingly any deep or intermediate passing game at all. That's a crucial element to any offense.

The bottom line? I'm not giving the Giants as much of a shot as I would have before. However, they certainly surprised me last year as well.

2. Carolina Panthers

What a difference a year and the return of a starting quarterback makes. Last year, the Panthers were scrambling to find a good replacement for starting QB Jake Delhomme (ie someone who can throw the ball to Steve Smith or Jeff King every play) as well as to get their running game sorted out. They failed in both regards and had an 8-8 season.

This year, they solved both problems. Delhomme has been healthy and playing well all year, with the addition of veteran WR Mushin Muhammad to the receiving corps to help bolster the passing game and take some attention away from Steve Smith. DeAngelo Williams finally stepped up, along with their backfield getting meaningful contributions from rookie RB Jonathan Stewart that they could never seem to get from DeShaun Foster. Add in a Carolina defense that has been above average for the past few years, and you get a playoff team that could be a real threat this postseason.

3. Atlanta Falcons

Wow, who honestly saw this coming? The Falcons, just a year removed from losing starting QB Michael Vick and shuffling through tons of different free agent QBs while trying to build their tanking franchise are suddenly on top of the world.

It's no secret that Matt Ryan and Michael Turner are the biggest reasons for this team's remarkable turnaround. Ryan is a virtual lock for rookie of the year honors, and the combination of Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood on the ground has been even more effective than anyone imagined. Roddy White has proven that last year wasn't a fluke and that he is actually an elite receiver. It's amazing what a change in win-loss record can do to change the perception of a team. Last year, we looked at the Atlanta Falcons and saw a team that was spiraling downward after losing a quarterback. Instead, we should have seen them as a team loaded with potential that only needed a few pieces.

Do I think the Falcons will do much in the playoffs this year? I'm not sure. I don't see them as Super Bowl contenders, and yet I see a very real possibility of them being in the NFC Championship game. In years to come, this team will be a force to be reckoned with.

4. Arizona Cardinals

Wow, this Cinderella story sure turned into a pumpkin. It seems like only yesterday that the Cardinals were dominating opponents, Kurt Warner looked like a sure thing for NFL MVP, Tim Hightower was driving me crazy by vulturing touchdowns when Edgerrin James was on my fantasy team and the NFC Championship was looking to be Cardinals vs Giants. Now, the Cardinals sit on an 8-7 record and just got absolutely ROCKED by the Patriots. Simply put: this team isn't winning a single game come playoff time.

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I saw this story on ESPN.com and had to post it here too. I love throwbacks and the Niners are going to be wearing throwbacks on Sunday in their season finale. Well to make this more retro, they're all growing mustaches. That's awesome. Go ahead and check out the story.

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Tonight's Pacers home game versus the New Jersey Nets will be the lowest attended game thus far through the season. I base this prediction on the current weather/road conditions in Indianapolis.

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As El Death is apparently ravaging the Pacers lineup, Granger, Murphy, and Daniels all missed last night's game with the flu and will miss tonight's matchup against the Sixers, I figured I would take some time to stroll down memory lane. To a simpler time, when a red, white, and blue basketball was all you needed.


While perusing through the internet in search of interesting sports websites, I came across Remember the ABA. As being someone from one of the four cities which has a surviving ABA franchise, the ABA has always interested me. There's a lot of great information about all the teams, complete with detailed histories and memories from fans. This story I found on the Pacers page and it made me laugh when I read it:

"One of my fondest ABA memories involves a game that was played at the Coliseum in Indianapolis. I believe it was in 1968 or 1969. We went to the game early to watch the Pacers warm up. We had seats directly behind the Pacer bench. A certain gentleman was already sitting a few seats away from us when we arrived. He had already consumed a few beers, as evidenced by the stack of empty cups under his seat. I was only 9 or 10 years of age. When my parents saw the stack of cups, they made me sit in the seat that was farthest from this gentleman. Anyway, when the game started the gentleman began yelling for Slick Leonard "to put [George] Peeples in." He continued to yell this advice the entire first half, but to no avail. Peeples sat the whole half. At the beginning of the second half, the yelling intensified, but Peeples continued to sit. By this time, the screaming had caught the attention of the Pacers bench, and several players were starting to laugh. In the fourth quarter the Pacers were losing badly. With less than two minutes remaining, and the Pacers down by at least 20, Leonard finally called for Peeples to go into the game. Everybody in the stands was waiting for the drunk to voice his approval (and for a few minutes of silence from this loudmouth). To everyone's amazement the next words out of this guy's mouth were: "Hell Leonard, even Peeples isn't that good. Even he can't bring us back from 20 down." I will never forget the reaction of Leonard and the whole Pacers bench. Pure pandemonium from the players, the fans, and Slick. Leonard just shook his head in bewilderment."

So if you have some time to kill on this Saturday, or you enjoy ABA/Sports history please check out Remember the ABA.

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This was in today's "Let It Out" section of the Indianapolis Star. Evidently someone had to let out some racism:

I wonder if Obama will ask Michael Vick to help him select a dog for his kids.

Yeah...I really can't think of any reason why Obama and Vick would be in any way related, aside from the fact that they both happen to be black. Besides, Bush's dog is the one that's biting people all over the place.

And what the hell, just to make up for it, I'll post this again.

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I swear to God, this was also the first thing I thought of when I saw this video. Well, second, right after "thank goodness we were greeted as liberators." You can even look at my Facebook, it's all documented there.

Go look at Metstradamus.

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Apologies for the cruise control, but THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER:

"Tampa Bay’s second-year DE Greg White has officially changed his name. On Monday, a Hillsborough County Circuit Court granted White’s request to change his name from Gregory Alphonso White Jr. to Stylez G. White." from Bucs Report, via Deadspin

Seriously? Stylez G. White? This is significantly better than Chad Ocho Cinco, in terms of pronounceability, awesomeness, and hilarity. I could not have possibly been happier when I saw this on ESPN this afternoon. Roger Goodell, on the other hand, was photographed while hearing the news, and I was able to obtain the picture.

First of all, Stylez chose a way better reason for changing his name than Chad Eight Five did. According to Bucs Report, it was because of the Michael J. Fox movie Teen Wolf. No, I'm not making this all up. Evidently the best friend in the movie goes by the name Stiles, and White has liked the name ever since. Of course, Stiles isn't an awesome enough name for a professional football player, so he altered the spelling to the significantly more badass "Stylez." This will net him at least two more points to his overall player rating and significantly more ladies.

Beside that, though, this will bring further shame to the NFL. This league is turning more and more every year into a freaking soap opera, with people getting shot, people shooting other people, and just a generally high level of crazy among players. I, for one, welcome this. I'm hoping that when Tom Brady comes back next year, he has amnesia and thinks he's the King of Scotland or something like that. Then this damned gambling cabal will finally fall totally apart.

The biggest question, though is this: am I the only one who's really hoping the Buccaneers will be on TV in Indianapolis this weekend?

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Last night the Indiana Pacers dropped their 6th straight game to a Milwaukee club that seems to be generally in the same boat the Pacers are. The final score was 121-103. Now to most who aren't really following this team it seems as though this year's form of the Pacers, currently with a 7-16 record, are just a horrible team with no hope of the playoffs this year, but this is just not the case.


I personally have watched almost every game this season, including 4 of 10 home games in person (5 of 11 after this week), and I must tell you this just is not the case.

The Pacers are a really young team who has been trying to figure things out here in the early part of the season, most of the team has acknowledged the "feeling out" process is over and now they're trying to just win games. Here in Indy we have a fantastic team, we just have made some mistakes down the stretch that have been costing us games.

Let's start with the most recent game against Boston for starters:

We sent the game to overtime, and down the stretch in regulation we just couldn't hold on to our six point lead. In OT we just seemed worn out from the effort exerted.

Or let's look at the matchup against Detroit:

We rallied back to come within a T.J. Ford jumper of OT. If that shot would have fallen we seemed like we would have held out own in overtime and won.

Finally arriving at last night:

The Pacers seemed dead in the first half, and in the third and fourth quarters rallied back from 20+ down to take the lead. The final score is deceiving because after holding the lead the Bucks went on a 19-0 run to end the game and win by 18. In those last minutes nothing seemed like it could fall for Indiana, while the Bucks hit everything.

Through all of this though, you can see the Pacers are still playing every game as hard as they can. The real problem throughout all of this has been turnovers. If the Pacers can minimize turnovers they can win most of these games.

As for now though, the Pacers just need to get on the right track. Our schedule evens out now as we face a lot of sub-.500 teams and if we can win 5 of the next 9 it'll stop the bleeding and once again we can focus on staying in the hunt for a playoff spot.

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I'll take a break from other obligations (mounds of assignments; dead week my ass) to help break a little news.

If you've been paying attention, you probably already know that the Mets opened up the Hot Stove League this week by signing Francisco Rodriguez, the holder of the most overrated single-season record in baseball, to a three-year, $37 million contract.

Tonight, though, they took step two in fixing the bullpen by acquiring Mariners closer J.J. Putz in a three-team trade.

Here's the breakdown:

Mets get Putz, outfielder Jeremy Reed, and reliever Sean Green (no relation to the Hebrew Hammer)
Mariners get Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, and prospect Mike Carp, along with other nameless, faceless Mets prospects and outfielder Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians
Indians get second baseman Luis Valbuena from Seattle (I assume, since I have no idea who he is) as well as Joe Smith from the Mets (and the Witness Protection Agency)

EDIT: Now with analysis! Such as it is.

I'm happy with the trade. Putz (when healthy) is an All-Star, and simply by bringing in K-Rod and Putz, Omar Minaya has already made the Mets bullpen leaps and bounds better than it was last season.

Trading Heilman away is addition by subtraction -- he no longer fits, and there's just no way that he could ever be an effective pitcher in New York again after the way fans have become accustomed to treating him (i.e. blaming every loss on him, ignoring his rare good appearances, showering him with boos). I always kind of liked him, though, and in a weird way, I'll miss him. I always hoped he would turn it around. I'll be rooting for Heilman's success in Seattle.

Endy Chavez, though I love him and I will never forget The Catch, is overrated. He's a fourth outfielder at best, and he can't hit his way out of a wet paper sack. It would have been nice to do this deal without him, but them's the breaks.

Mike Carp, we barely knew ye. Adios.

The only person in the trade I don't like to see the Mets lose is Joe Smith. For parts of last year, he was the only person in the bullpen who was even remotely servicable. He could end up good, he could flame out in a year. But I liked him too. Again, would have been nice to keep him, but stuff happens.

Now, onto the new Mets. Obviously J.J. Putz is the highlight of the package. He's been an All-Star, and he has a nasty splitter. He's also been hurt -- namely, most of last season. This is a big part of the reason he's a set-up closer now, instead of a closer. Hopefully his injuries are all better (the trade depends on physicals being passed) and he won't spend another year on the disabled list.

I know very little of Jeremy Reed and Sean Green. Reed was the Mariners' fourth outfielder, which doesn't say much for him. If he can hit, he'll be a servicable replacement for Chavez. If not, he'll be Endy Part 2, but without the cool name and the speed and ability to bunt. Unless he has those things; he played for the Mariners, so nobody knows. Green is a middle reliever. Statistically, it doesn't look like he sucked last year. Of course, statistically it doesn't look like Pedro Feliciano sucked either. So it's tough to tell. If these guys can contribute somewhat, they will be worth their weight in low-grade aluminum.

This must not be the end, though. This team needs more bullpen help (Joe Beimel? Juan Cruz? Bueller?) and some starting pitching, especially if Oliver Perez leaves and especially if Derek Lowe ends up in Philly. Omar, you're still On Notice.

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Do I really even need to make this post? It's Plaxico Burress. No surprises there. I was really sweating it for a while this week, thinking I'd have to make it an ultimately undeserving Sean Avery, but Plaxico Burress really showed up in the clutch here and got me out of it. You either know why, or you have been living under a rock.

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Evidently losing four consecutive Super Bowls gets you a job as a journalism professor at Indiana University.

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