On Saturday:
- Coach Janky Spanky (aka Clinton Portis) and the Redskins go on the road and eliminate Tampa Bay from the playoffs. Even better, this is the last NFL game that will be called by the godawful ESPN crew of Mike Patrick, Paul McGuire and Joe Theismann (unfortunately, Theismann will be moving on to ruin Monday Night Football later this Fall) Deadspin’s take
- After shocking UConn in their Big East debut, the Gold drop a close one to Cincinnati at home. (I guess this means Wisconsin is like 30 points better than UConn, but only 20 better than Cincy) ESPN’s take
- Wisconsin-Milwaukee holds on to beat Butler in a pretty thrilling game (I was there). Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s take
- I’m really sick of the Patriots, but you have to be impressed by the shelacking they game Jacksonville. Game is so boring that Deadspin doesn’t recap it by quarter
Then, on Sunday
- The day starts out with a little NFL Playoff action, as the Giants get shut out by Carolina (the 2nd road team to win in the wild card round this year). At least the first quarter was close. Deadspin’s take
- Wow. Wow. The Badgers just crushed Michigan State to improve to 12-2 on the season (and 2-0 in the Big Ten). Total team effort in this one, as Alando Tucker had a very off game (and needs to fix his free throw shooting before March). Deadspin is impressed and the AP take on espn.com, oh and if you’re an ESPN Insider: Jay Bilas raves about Wisconsin too
- Steelers at Bengals in the last NFL playoff game of the weekend (and by far the most entertaining). Carson Palmer has his ACL torn on the Bengals’ first possession. The recipient of his 67-yard pass, Tab Perry, is out of the game with an injury too. This bugs me not only because Palmer is such a great QB, but also because he led a couple of my fantasy teams to the playoffs this year, so I feel a certain kinship here. Jon Kitna is trying, but with Pittsburgh up by 14 now with 10 minutes left in the game, it looks like the end of the road for the upstart Bengals. AND New England and Indianapolis will not meet until the championship game, if they meet at all. More commentary from Deadspin
Looking ahead
Vince Young declared that he was entering the NFL draft today. This is good news for the Packers at #5. I’m guessing that the first five picks in April go like this:
- Houston – Reggie Bush (if they had an offensive line, their roster of skill players would be pretty scary)
- New Orleans – Matt Leinart (I know everyone is in love with Vince Young right now, but I think NO ultimately goes with the more traditional QB in Leinart)
- Tennessee – Vince Young or D’Brickashaw Ferguson
- NY Jets – Vince Young or D’Brickashaw Ferguson (seems like both of these teams could use a new QB – if they don’t grab Young, Ferguson seems the logical choice since he can play LT for the next decade)
- Green Bay – AJ Hawk is the popular choice here, but I like the sound of Jimmy Williams from VA Tech better (since I can’t remember Green Bay being home to a CB who was ever labeled “shutdown”). DeAngelo Williams is an intriguing possiblity as well, but I think there will be talent left at that posiition at the beginning of the 2nd round too.
btw, ESPN’s draft page can be found here — apparently they don’t feel the need to make finding that info a priority when the draft is still 3 1/2 months away, but for us Packer fans, it’s about all we have right now
So, yeah, that’s how I spent the majority of my weekend – watching sports. I might even watch Duke vs Wake Forest tonight – well, and Family Guy. Note: I will NOT watch 60 Minutes, even if they are featuring Bode Miller in a story as I’ve heard advertised 1,362 times during this Cincy-Pittsburgh game