Don't ever listen to me again

I have noticed this a few times, and once this weekend though I don't remember what game. It was fourth and less than a yard and the coach called for a measurement even though it was obviously short. I know why. The coach wanted to have some time to make a decision. TV guy suggested that the coach wanted to know "exactly" how far there was to go. Why? Do have they have different plays for 4th and inches or 4th and a foot?

Why do football announcers wear a suit and tie?

As for the games, I missed 3 out of four. I'm done picking winners. I'll just tell you other stuff I think about games. I suck too much and it's getting embarrassing.

Indianapolis at Baltimore - WRONG
I turned on the game and saw Ray Lewis prancing out of the fog and it reminded me how much I detest him and his act and how is so revered as a great player and team leader... and the guy is a thug and a murderer who ratted out his friends to save himself and then bought out the daughter of one of the victims to avoid a civil suit. I rooted for Indy (despite "picking" Baltimore) because after all, Peyton is a nice enough guy and why shouldn't he finally win one?

Philadelphia at New Orleans - CORRECT
Pretty much the shootout I predicted (shootout compared to the rest of the weekend scoring, anyway). Always a good sign to be able to win the close game even when you make some mess-ups along the way. Regardless of whether Philly "blew it", or New Orleans "won it". Looking good, Saints (that sounds odd).

Seattle at Chicago - WRONG
This one hurt a little. I really did have good feelings for Seattle. I felt that angst at the end that is usually reserved for the home team. A few notes on the game:

- With about 2:00 to go in the first quarter, Hasselbeck was severely roughed. He threw a pass, took two steps, was hit from the side by a defender, then Tank Johnson slams him in the back knocking him to the ground. Tank did the usual hands-in-the-air-so-I-couldn't-have-done-anything pose, all the Seattle linemen started looking around for the flag (and pleading for it to be throw in some cases), but no flag was thrown. Pretty clear roughing the passer based on what I've seen recently. No flag? Not only that, they showed the replay and the commentators pointed out that he was hit after he threw, but neither even suggested that it might have been a late hit. I hate commentator favoritism....

- Later in the game, Chicago scored on a long touchdown play. The commentator said the following (and I played it back a few times to get the quote EXACT): "If you're Seattle you have to be thinking, 'Well finally, finally someone found the holes in our secondary'. I think when you talk to the Seahawks, they're stunned that Dallas didn't take more shots down the field last week and they feel like they got away with a game because Dallas just kept it tight and around the line of scrimmage."

He's not only telling me what Seattle must be thinking of themselves...twice... with nothing like an actual quote to back it up, but he basically slams them for being bad and just lucky to be here. And I don't think his "analysis" of the Seattle/Dallas game is accurate anyway. There's really three ways to look at that game: Seattle's undermanned secondary played really well in a critical game; Dallas failed to take advantage of Seattle's weakness; Dallas played poorly overall. Two of the three make Dallas look bad but somehow our beloved commentator tried to use one of those two to make Seattle look bad.

My feeling on the commentator: If I was him right now I must be thinking, "Finally someone has figured out that I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm lucky to be getting a paycheck for this".

New England at San Diego - WRONG
This is why I'm not picking any more games. When this weekend rolls around, I'll just explain who I want to win and why. I've heard a lot of talk about how New England, Tom Brady, and Bill Belichick just seem to put it all together for the playoffs. I watched this game, and maybe there's a shred of truth to that theory, but it also seems like for whatever reason, most of the uncontrollable little things just seem to go their way, too. I think there's a bigger element of luck than a lot of New England lovers will admit.