Wisdom Is Always An Overmatch For Strength

The Week in Sports
This is the worst time of the year. Sports wise, not my life. Pitchers and Catchers don’t report for a few more weeks. The Super Bowl is still 2 weeks away. NCAA basketball hasn’t started getting exciting for me yet. College football is done. I haven’t been in favor of a 18 week season in the NFL but maybe it has it’s merits. If they kept 4 preseason games and then added 2 extra weeks at the end it would almost get me by until baseball season. Here’s hoping.

I’m a Tom Brady fan. I’m not ashamed to admit that. It was hard to see him struggle against the Jets. Especially since the Jets had been talking so much smack.

I’m really excited for the Packers to be in the Super Bowl. Not just cause I like watching them but because I’m living in the state as one of the particpiatns. I’ve never gotten to experience this. Unfortantely, I’m stuck on this side of the state. I think the farther west you go in Wisconsin the less die hard the fans are. Too many Vikings fans over here. At least I have my good buddy Ford to hang out with who is a die hard fan. Go Packers.

My Angels lost another one of my favorite players this week. Mike Napoli was traded to the Blue Jays and then a few days later traded to the Rangers. The Rangers of all teams. I loved watching this dude swing the bat. His uppercut, 2 handed swing was like a giant cutting down a huge tree. Mike, you will be missed.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=13098581


Bold Prediction of the Week
Celtics will lose to the Blazers on Thursday night

Previous Predictions:
TCU over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl: Correct
Stanford over UConn women in basketball: Correct
Seahawks over Saints in playoffs: Correct
St. Johns over Syracuse in men’s basketball: Incorrect



Top 5 Players in the Super Bowl
1. Ben Roethlisberger
2. Aaron Rodgers
3. Troy Polamalu
4. James Harrison
5. Clay Matthews

Life is about Timing

The Week in Sports
I read this week that Marshawn Lynch’s run against the Saints made the ground shake. A seismic monitoring station located about 100 yards west of the stadium registered seismic activity during Lynch's run. That’s was a crazy run with some really bad tackling.

The National Championship game was so boring for the first 3 quarters that I kept thinking, “This can’t be for the National Championship. I know I said it last week but I would love to see TCU play Auburn this week. Even if nothing was on the line I think it would be a great game.
Side note to the game. Raiders. Please draft Casey Matthews, who by the way is my new favorite college football player.

I’m always a little bitter when players I picked up in fantasy, who didn’t do a lot for me during the season have great playoff games. Thanks Lynch and James Starks.

Since the Cavaliers played the Heat on December 2nd the Cavs have gone 1-19 while the Heat have gone 18-1. I know I shouldn’t enjoy it this much but I kind of like to see a team completely self destruct sometimes. The Cavs are just awful. They were almost doubled up last night by the Lakers. They scored 55 points. 55! They only had 2 players score in double figures and one of them was named Alonzo Glee. Listen to the +/- on their starters. -46, -29, -35, -43 and -57. For those that don’t know what that stat is for. It denotes team's net points while the player is on the court. They are so bad and I for some reason I am loving the misery they are in. I’m sorry for all my friend that are Cavs fans. There’s always room on the Lakers bandwagon.

Confidence Picks
Mike and Mike have started giving their confidence picks each week for the playoffs. How much confidence they have in each team's head coach, running game and defense. This is keeping in mind the opponent they are playing as well. I've decided to add quarterback to this list as well. They then tally up all the scores to see who should win in each head to head match up. Lower scored are better.

Coaching
1. Patriots
2. Steelers
3. Packers
4. Falcons
5. Seahawks
6. Bears
7. Ravens
8. Jets

Rushing Offense
1. Bears
2. Jets
3. Falcons
4. Steelers
5. Packers
6. Ravens
7. Patriots
8. Seattle

Defense
1. Bears
2. Patriots
3. Packers
4. Ravens
5. Steelers
6. Jets
7. Falcons
8. Seattle

Quarterback
1. Patriots
2. Packers
3. Falcons
4. Steelers
5. Bears
6. Ravens
7. Seahawks
8. Jets


Confidence Scores
Patriots:11 Jets:24
Steelers:15 Ravens:23
Packers:13 Falcons:17
Bears:13 Seahawks:28



Bold Prediction of the Week
#4 Syracuse will lose to St. Johns in Men’s Basketball

Top 5 Raiders of All-Time
1. Tim Brown
2. Fred Biletnikoff
3. Art Shell
4. Willie Brown
5. Jack Tatum

"If a tie is like kissing your sister, losing is like kissing you grandmother with her teeth out."

The Week in Sports
Al Davis did it again. I’m speechless.

I think the BSC Championship will be really exciting. Even more exciting would be if the winner had to play TCU the next week for the real college football championship. That probably wouldn’t bring in any money and would water down the bowls though.

This past weekend my friend Corey put together a sports trivia competition for myself and a bunch of other people. I believe I know quite a bit about sports trivia and I teamed up with my buddy Topher who knows more than I do. The 2 of us couldn’t hold a candle to our friend Tyler Thrune. This man not only knows sports trivia he is a walking dictionary of sports trivia. Congratulations to Tyler and his brilliance with all things sports.

This past weekend I correctly predicted 2 upsets in the world of sports. The Connecticut women losing to Stanford and TCU beating Wisconsin. I’ve decided to make this a weekly section of Spa Sports. I may fall flat on my face with some of these but I am determined to be bold and confident.

Bold Prediction of the Week
Seahawks will beat the Saints


Top 5 Favorite Baseball Players
1. Bo Jackson
2. Ricky Henderson
3. Darin Erstad
4. Dan Gladden
5. Troy Percival

Predictions
Congrats to Topher for taking the NFL predictions win on Spa Sports. Topher ended up predicting 71% of his picks correctly. Timmy came in 2nd at 66%, followed by Ford at 64%. I bring up the rear at 62%. Thank you to the other 3 guys for their help this year with these predictions. It was a lot of fun.

To round out the predictions for the year I have given my predictions for the playoffs as well as my Super Bowl winner.

Wild Card Games
Seattle over New Orleans
Colts over Jets
Ravens over Kansas City
Philadelphia over Green Bay

Divisional Games
Philadelphia over Bears
Falcons over Seattle
Patriots over Ravens
Steelers over Colts

AFC Championship
Patriots over Steelers

NFL Championship
Falcons over Eagles

Super Bowl
Patriots over Falcons 38-35

As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round.

Top 5 NFL Quarterbacks of the Past Decade
1. Tom Brady
2. Peyton Manning
3. Brett Favre
4. Donovan McNabb
5. Drew Brees


Week 17 Picks
__________________SPA____Topher___Timmy___Ford
Car at Atl___________Atl______Atl_____Atl_____Atl
Pit at Cle___________Pit_____Pit_____Pit______Pit
Min at Det__________Min_____Min_____Det______Det
Oak at K.C.__________Oak____K.C.____Oak______Oak
Mia at N.E._________N.E.___N.E.____N.E._____N.E.
T.B. at N.O.__________N.O.___N.O.____N.O.______N.O.
Buf at N.J._________NYJ_____NYJ____NYJ_____NYJ
Cin at Bal__________Bal____Bal___Bal_____Bal
Jac at Hou___________Hou_____Hou____Jac_______Jac
NYG at Was__________NYG____NYG____NYJ______NYG
Dal at Phi__________Phi_____Dal___Phi______Phi
Ari at S.F._________S.F.____S.F.___Ari______Ari
Chi at G.B__________G.B.____G.B.___G.B.______G.B.
Ten at Ind__________Ind____Ind___Ind_____Ind
S.D. at Den__________S.D.___S.D.___Den______Den
STL at Sea__________Sea_____STL____Sea_______STL
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Last Week ___________10-6___12-4____9-7______9-7
Season Total_________68-41___77-32____64-36_____72-37
Winning %__________62%____71%_____64%______66%

Aunt Bethany, does your cat eat jello?

Some thoughts on the week in sports.

I think what the Connecticut women's basketball team did is amazing. Even if they have been playing mediocre competition it's still impressive to win that many games.

Favre please quit. I have loved watching you but I don't want the last image of you on a football field to be you lying on a stretcher.

I can't believe Boise State went from playing in a BCS game to playing on December 22nd. Not even playing in a bowl game after Christmas. Crazy.

I was having a discussion recently with a friend about the greatest sports movies of all time. I love these types of lists and since its the Christmas season I thought I would share my Top 5 favorite Christmas movies of all time. I suppose this has nothing to do with sports but oh well.

My Top 5 Christmas Movies
1. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
2. Home Alone
3. Scrooged
4. A Christmas Story
5. Elf


All of us had a rough time last week with our picks with Timmy and Ford leading the way with 10-6 weekends. Topher is still leading the way but Ford is closing in with 2 weeks to go. I'm still in 3rd followed by Timmy. With the busy of Christmas I've decided not to do any in depth picks. On to this weeks picks. Have a Blessed Christmas.


Week 16 Picks
__________________SPA____Topher___Timmy___Ford
Car at Pit___________Pit______Pit_____Pit______Pit
Dal at Ari___________Dal_____Dal_____Dal______Dal
Was at Jac__________Jac_____Jac_____Jac______Jac
Det at Mia___________Det____Det_____Det______Mia
S.F. at STL__________STL____STL_____STL______STL
Ten at K.C.__________Ten____K.C.____K.C.______K.C.
NYJ at Chi__________NYJ_____Chi____NYJ______NYJ
N.E. at Buf__________N.E.____N.E.___N.E.______N.E.
Bal at Cle___________Bal_____Bal____Bal_______Bal
Hou at Den__________Hou____Den____Hou______Den
S.D. at Cin__________Cin_____S.D.___S.D.______S.D.
Ind at Oak__________Oak_____Ind____Oak______Ind
NYG at G.B__________G.B.____G.B.___G.B.______G.B.
Sea at T.B.__________T.B.____T.B.___T.B._____Sea
Min at Phi___________Phi____Phi_____Phi______Phi
N.O. at Atl__________Atl_____Atl____Atl_______Atl
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Last Week ___________8-8____9-7_____10-6______10-6
Season Total_________58-35___65-28____55-29_____63-30
Winning %__________62%____70%_____65%______68%

"Losers quit when they're tired. Winners quit when they've won"

Some thoughts on the week in sports.

Brett Favre is the man. I already have an entire blog article about him so there's not much to say. The man is a freak and has to be the toughest player to every play the game. Love em.

The Raiders still have a chance for the playoffs. Slim, but still possible. When your team has been so bad it's pretty exciting to even have your team be at 6-7.

Cliff Lee to the Phillies. Love it. It's good to see that the Yankees can't get anyone they want. I also love that he's out of the American League all together.

Aaron Rodgers helped me go 22-5 in my two fantasy teams this year and then gets a concussion just as the playoffs start. Awesome.

Thinking about the Vikings-Bears game at TCF Bank Stadium got me thinking about outdoor games. I think it would be so great if they played a Super Bowl in a small cold weather stadium. Perhaps, Lambeau.

Onto this weeks predictions. Spa is not doing well. I went 9-7 last week. Topher continued his hot streak with a 12-4 week. Timmy went 10-6 and Ford went 11-5. The overall standings stay the same with Topher still leading followed by Ford, Timmy and me brining up the rear. Have a great weekend!



Kansas City at St. Louis
A huge match up of 2 of the biggest surprises of the season. The Chiefs come into the game at 8-5 and lead the Chargers by one game. The Rams are tied with the Seahawks atop the underachieving NFL West with a record of 6-7. Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassell sat out the last game for the Chiefs after having an appendectomy December 8th but may play in this game. Hopefully for the Chiefs he does. Brodie Croyle his back up may be statistically the worst back up ever. He is 0-10 as a starter and last week was 7-17 passing for 40 yards. The Chiefs have not faired well on the road this year going 2-5. Regardless of who starts are quarterback for the Chiefs I’ll take Sam Bradford and the Rams at home in a low scoring game. Rams 14-10

New Orleans at Baltimore
This should be one of the best games of the week. The Ravens are 5-2 in their last 6 games. In that time Joe Flacco has completed 65% of his passed for 1800 yards, 14 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions. Since losing to the Browns on October 24th the Saints have won 6 in a row and are averaging 31 points a game. Last week the Ravens gave up 3 touchdown passes and almost 400 yards passing to Matt Schaub. I think Brees has a huge game and the Saints continue their winning way on the road in Baltimore. Saints 34-31.



Week 15 Picks
_____________________SPA___Topher___Timmy____Ford
S.F at S.D.____________S.D.____S.D._____S.F.______S.F.
Cle at Cin_____________Cle_____Cle______Cle______Cin
Was at Dal____________Dal_____Dal_____Dal______Dal
Hou at Ten____________Hou____Hou_____Ten______Hou
Jac at Ind_____________Ind____Ind_____Jac_______Ind
K.C. at Stl_____________Stl_____Stl_____K.C.______K.C.
Buf at Mia_____________Buf____Buf_____Mia______Mia
Det at T.B._____________T.B.____T.B.____T.B.______T.B.
Ari at Car______________Ari_____Ari____Car_______Car
N.O. at Bal_____________N.O.____Bal____Bal_______N.O.
Phi at NYG_____________NYG____NYG____Phi______NYG
Atl at Sea______________Atl_____Atl_____Atl_______Atl
NYJ at Pit______________Pit_____Pit_____Pit_______Pit
Den at Oak_____________Oak____Oak_____Oak______Oak
Chi at Min______________Chi____Chi_____Chi_______Chi
G.B. at N.E._____________N.E.___N.E._____N.E.______N.E.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Last Week ______________9-7____12-4______10-6______11-5
Season Total____________50-27___56-21_____45-23_____53-24
Winning %_____________65%____73%______66%______69%

Taylor Martinez is actually a Deer

Nebraska blows another chance at a Big 12 Championship. Again. Nebraska is forced to play in the Holiday Bowl. Again. Nebraska will be playing the University of Washington. Again. Man, what a difference a good quarterback makes. Nebraska had a great chance to beat Oklahoma this past weekend in the last Big 12 Championship again. They were in field goal range. Then Taylor Martinez decided to do an impression of a deer in the head lights. Again. It’s so frustrating as a fan when the defense plays so well again and again and the inept offense struggles over and over again. Okay. I'm off my rant. Nope. I can accept that Nebraska lost. I can even accept that we lost to Oklahoma. What I can’t understand is the opponent the Huskers got for their Bowl game. All I hear is that the bowl games are all about the money. I wish someone could tell me how a rematch with a team they already beat by 35 points will be a big draw. I love watching Nebraska play but I don’t have a lot of interest in watching a college game I’ve already seen that wasn’t good to begin with. Okay, now I’m really off of my rant. Last week in the predictions we all had great weeks. Topher led all of us with a 13-3 week. The rest of us all had 12-4 weeks. The overall leader is still Topher followed by Ford, myself and Timmy. On to this weeks in depth predictions.

Oakland @ Jacksonville
These 2 teams are basically mirror images of each other offensively. Look at the stats:
Oakland is averaging 339 yards a game on offense. Jacksonville, 338. Oakland passes on average for 190 yards per game. Jacksonville, 187. Oakland rushed for an average of 149 yards per game. Jacksonville, 152. Total yards on offense through the season. Oakland has racked up 4,062 yards. Jacksonville, 4,061. I see this games being a low scoring affair with both teams trying to grind it out on the ground. The Raiders rushed the ball 52 times last week and racked up 251 yards. Jacksonville with one of the best runners in the league in Maurice Jone-Drew, ran the ball 53 times for 258 yards against Tennessee. I think the difference in this game will be Jacoby Ford. The rookie wide receiver for the Raiders has come up big for them this season and I think he will do it again. Raiders 17-14.

New England @ Chicago
Patriots offense vs. the Bears defense. I’m excited to see if Brady can continue his amazing play against this Bears defense. In the last 4 games Brady has put up MVP numbers. He’s passed for 1,200 yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions while completing 73% of his passes. If Cutler can keep his interceptions down I think the Bears can win this game but I don’t think he will. I’ll take Belichick’s game plan and Brady’s arm in this game. Patriots 38-31.


Week 14 Picks

_____________________SPA____Topher___Timmy____Ford
Ind at Ten_____________Ind____Ind______Ind______Ind.
Cle at Buf_____________Cle_____Buf_____Cle_______Buf
Cin at Pit______________Pit____Pit______Pit_______Pit
G.B. at Det_____________G.B.___G.B._____G.B._____G.B.
NYG at Min_____________Min___NYG_____NYG_____NYG
T.B. at Was_____________Was___T.B._____T.B._____Was
Atl at Car______________Atl____Atl______Atl______Atl
Oak at Jax_____________Oak____Jax_____Jax______Jax
Sea at S.F._____________Sea_____S.F.____Sea______S.F.
STL at N.O.____________N.O.____N.O.____N.O._____N.O.
Mia at NYJ_____________NYJ____NYJ_____NYJ_____NYJ
Den at Ari______________Ari_____Den____Den______Den
K.C. at S.D.____________S.D.____S.D._____K.C._____K.C.
N.E. at Chi_____________N.E.___N.E._____N.E._____N.E.
Phi at Dal______________Phi____Dal______Phi _______Phi
Bal at Hou_____________Bal____Bal_______Bal______Bal

_________________________________________________

Last Week ______________12-4____13-3______12-4______12-4

Season Total____________41-20___44-17_____35-17_____42-19