Super Bowl XLIX Pick: The Silence of the Balls

The biggest drag of having to wait two weeks between the conclusion of the AFC and NFC Championship games and the kickoff to the Super Bowl is that we are forced to endure a fortnight of tired coverage that simply wants us to get to the god damn game already. This year, the first week was largely dedicated to all of the (pun not originally intended, but I won't change it) overblown controversy surrounding balls in the AFC title game being allegedly deflated by the Patriots. Keeping in mind that New England won this game by a final score of 45-7, it is fairly ridiculous for some people to have screamed as loudly as they did about the damage this revelation caused. For most level-headed sports fans, it was another disappointing example of how one team will look for any edge it can find, but it wasn't exactly the 1919 White Sox here.

Our second week of Super Bowl coverage devoted entirely too much time to Marshawn Lynch's antics in dealing with the media. Again, a tired and essentially boring non-story, but some members of the thousands-plus credentialed media members want us to believe that we should be outraged. Sorry. Don't care. Get to the football.

When this game finally does kick off, it looks like we'll be in store for another good one. Much like last year's big game, I really could find myself satisfied with either one of these teams emerging victorious. I'm hoping for one major difference from last year though in that this year's Super Bowl will actually be a much closer game. Seeing as predictions tracked at Pickwatch currently have an even 50/50 split, I think it's a reasonable expectation. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Just as soon as I remove my fingers from my ears.

Conference Championship Picks: Feeling Pretty Smart

According to handy Pickwatch chart, I was one of only nine observers to correctly predict all four playoff game outcomes last weekend. Additionally, the two winners and two losers in the AFC matched my pre-season predictions—although in different matchups. So we end up with a championship round in which three of the four teams I had being here are still alive, and the one I didn't pick is probably the team I'm leaning most heavily toward winning the Super Bowl next month.

Once again, the biggest story to come out of last week was another controversial call. And maybe because I'm a Bears fan who remembered that infamous Calvin Johnson catch that wasn't in 2010, I immediately thought back to that terrible call as soon as I saw the Dez Bryant play this past weekend. Thus, it couldn't have been less surprising when referees made the correct call as far as the dumb rule is written. Of course, the outrage in the Lions-Bears opener was nowhere near what it was in the Twitterverse following a critical play late in an NFL playoff game. So maybe this off-season, the league will actually do something about the rule. But I'm not holding my breath.

I will cross my fingers and hope that we can get through these final three games without any more officiating concerns dominating the discussion afterward. That would be nice since there seems to be good reason to believe that we could get some fairly entertaining contests to conclude this season.

(Non-)Oscar Nominee Picks: "Things Are About to Change, Vol. 2"

As I said back in June after our daughter came into this world, certain "annual" posts were probably going to be abandoned. And while I included the Oscar predictions I've been making for more than two decades as a category that would be among those that would be safe, I did not realize until late this afternoon that Academy Award nominations are getting announced tomorrow morning. As you might guess, I haven't gotten out to the movies very much, what with a baby and all (although Mom says little Lucy has actually slept peacefully through the two films she took her to).

So it is with some regret that I post this notice that I will not be doing my semi-usual posting of predicted nominees. I have not been following the race at all this year and I would basically be regurgitating the predictions made by two or three other "experts" I read. It was fun in the past to spend these evenings putting together the gold-bracketed pictures of expected nominees and then changing the colors to the lime green that corresponded to correct guesses or red for wrong ones. But that will not be the case this year.

Divisional Playoff Picks: It can only get better, right?

I was right on there only being one road team victory last week, but I just picked the wrong road team to pull off an upset. For a good while there last Sunday, it certainly appeared that the Lions were going to make me look good (figuratively speaking, of course), but then a mysterious flag-that-wasn't ended up being the most discussed aspect of the weekend. Nice job, NFL.

So two right, two wrong for me in the first week of the playoffs. A lot of other observers certainly did a lot better. But if I want to feel somewhat better about myself, I'd point out that I had all four of the AFC teams playing this weekend being active in this round in my pre-season predictions. Yes, completely different matchups, but let me enjoy the sunshine where I can find it please.

It once again appears that all the home teams this weekend are overwhelming favorites, but we know that there's bound to be at least one underdog that leaves us stunned. Maybe it won't have to be the result of some very questionable officiating.

Wild Card Picks: It's a good thing I don't gamble

Watching the inaugural college football playoff games on New Year's Day, I briefly regretted not posting my predictions here for those contests. Of course, I really haven't dedicated any space on this blog to collegiate athletics. And really, I haven't dedicated much space here to anything in recent months. Babies will do that, I suppose.

Still, with the NFL playoffs beginning this weekend, it's as good a time as any to look back on my predictions from the beginning of the year. As has so often been the story, I was right on a few, and wrong on many more. My pick for Super Bowl winner this year indeed made the playoffs, but my predicted big game loser did not. I had no divisions this season in which I got all four finishes correct. So on, so forth.

I don't really know how much of the playoffs I'll actually be able to watch, but I will say that very early on in the young daughter's life, it has seemed as though she's perhaps more spellbound by football than any other sport I've had on in the bedroom while holding her. Maybe it's the uniforms, the maybe it's the bright colors. Maybe it was just all a matter of timing (I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that hockey ultimately appeals most to her). I'll probably be getting a few more chances to test the football theory over the next month though.

I wasn't right about much this NFL season, and I'm not terribly optimistic about how I'll fare in predicting games over the next few weeks either. I'll flat out admit that I could really pick any of the eight teams playing this weekend to win, and I won't be the least bit surprised if I get all four of the following predictions wrong. 

Nonetheless, here's a few guesses just to humor myself. I suppose.