Dallas Cowboys Are Still Tops in the NFC East

Many sports fans think of the summer months as the deadest period of the year, but for football junkies like me, this is a very exciting time, full of optimism and possibility. Most NFL training camps have either already begun, or will begin in a day or two. And until the NFL season kicks off September, our favorite teams are undefeated.

This is also the time when folks like me peruse the regular-season schedules, go over the offseason trades, and make predictions about the upcoming season. The first regular-season kickoff is still more than a month away, but as a wiser man than I once said, "It's never too early to be inaccurate."

With that in mind, I'll begin my series of predictions with the NFC East. I'm starting with this division for two reasons: First, as a Giants fan, I'm an NFC East homer; and second, all four teams have relatively stable quarterback-situations, and therefore are not currently being held hostage by the Brett Favre debacle.

Dallas Cowboys

Painful as this is for me to admit, the Cowboys were the best team in the NFC last year, and they haven't incurred any significant personnel losses in the offseason. Tony Romo, Marion Barber, and Terrell Owens anchor one of the league's best offenses. A young, pesky defense has added Zach Thomas and Pacman-oops!-Adam Jones.

Circle this date: Nov. 2, Cowboys at Giants. The 'Boys will be looking to avenge their playoff loss to the Giants.

Outlook: The regular season hasn't been a problem for Dallas in recent years. It's those damn playoffs that keep tripping them up. I expect this to be the year they get off the schneid, not because they're significantly better than last year, but more because of the law of averages. Sooner of later, this team has to win a playoff game. They're too good not to.
Projected finish: 12-4

Philadelphia Eagles

Donovan McNabb's championship window is closing rapidly; in fact, it is very nearly shut. He turns 32 this year, and he hasn't had an injury-free season since 2004. The Eagles' fortunes ride heavily on whether No. 5 can keep it together for a full year.

Brian Westbrook is unhappy with his contract situation, and he's 28 and rapidly approaching 30, the not-so-magic number for running backs. Still, this is a team that is built to win now, and it was the Eagles' defense that wrote the blueprint on how to contain New England's juggernaut of an offense.

Circle this date: Dec. 28, at home vs. Dallas. With a little luck, the Eagles could be playing this game for the top spot in the NFC East.

Outlook: This season hinges on a lot of ifs. If McNabb can stay healthy. If Westbrook can repeat last year's performance. If Andy Reid can concentrate on the season despite his sons' troubles. I have the feeling this is now or never for these Eagles, and that they will play like it.

Projected finish: 11-5

New York Giants

I may get slammed for predicting a third-place finish for the defending champs, and as a Giants fan, I may seem egregiously disloyal, but I still think Eli Manning has some growing to do. Entering the regular-season finale against the Patriots, he was the very definition of mediocrity, with 19 touchdown passes and 19 picks. Has a Super Bowl victory transformed him into a more accurate quarterback? We'll see.

Circle this date: Sept. 4, at home vs. Washington. A Thursday-night game, it's the first game of the season, and the Giants will be looking to prove they're no fluke.

Outlook: I hope I'm wrong, but I see a little Super Bowl hangover for the Giants. Also, Michael Strahan (retirement) and Kawika Mitchell (free agency) are significant defensive losses.

Projected finish: 10-6.

Washington Redskins

This is a team in flux. New head coach Jim Zorn takes over a team still reeling from the shooting death of safety Sean Taylor. Quarterback Jason Campbell is learning a new offense for the third time in four years.

Circle this date: Nov. 16, at home vs. Dallas. Regardless of how the Redskins may be playing, they always get up for the Cowboys. They'll be hovering around .500 and playing with desperation. Will it be enough to beat the Cowboys? Tune in and find out.

Outlook: After years of trying to buy a championship, Daniel Snyder appears to be trying to build through the draft. If successful, the 'Skins will be tough. But not this year.

Projected finish: 8-8.

Did the Colts Coach Jim Caldwell Bet on the Jets?

Are you kidding me? You pull your starters in a tight 4th quarter game. The Jets were + 7 in that game and Indy was up only 5 points, so the Jets were already covering the spread. Pulling the starters all but guaranteed a Jets winning bet. On top of that, there is almost no rationale for pulling the starters for the 4th quarter of a game on December 27th when your next playoff game is January 17th or 18th. What would resting the starters in the 4th quarter of a tight game do aside from assure the Jets winning bet and infuriate the players. Their faces relayed their intense frustration with watching their undefeated season go up in flames.

If you had bet the Colts, it was a terrible bet according to the statistics. In 2009, the Colts haven't lost on the road, but are surprisingly a sub .500 team against the spread at home (that loss sent them to 3-5 on the year). On top of that, it was a good guess to think that the gutless brass in Indianapolis would pull starters as they did in 2005 when they had the # 1 seed, only to lose to San Diego in the divisional playoff.

Going into week 16, it is tough to say where Vegas will set the line when no one knows who Indy will play in that game. You can predict Indy's reserves will be on the field with vanilla play calling against a Buffalo team with their U Hauls packed. You can bet that game was on the level, and Caldwell probably didn't bet the Jets either; he just cheated his own team's bettors.

Rich Allen Owns The #1 Rated Statistical Sports Betting Service in The World - http://www.sportsbettingprofessor.com

Tips on Finding Real-Time MLB Scores

In the warm weather months, more than one MLB (Major League Baseball) game is taking place worldwide every day. It is impossible for you to watch them all! To keep track of major league baseball, you can rely on sports websites and get your scores that way.

If you can easily access to a computer, scores can be obtained in real time. There are excellent sports websites that will give you the latest Major League Baseball results.

MLB.com. For real-time Major League Baseball scores. This excellent site is the official home of the sport, with many features that you'll enjoy using. This site will have a wealth of information about MLB including schedules, standings as well as the playoff brackets. Of course, this site also carries scores from Major League Baseball. Type or copy and paste the URL into the browser's navigation bar. On the far left side of the web page is a black box with all matches playing that day. If the game has not yet begun, the expected starting time will be given. The current scores should be available for you to view. One way to get the latest scores is to take a look at the red toolbar found at the very top of your screen. You will see the inning by inning score. Keep in mind that the page won't automatically refresh with each run scored. To have the score data refreshed, hit the "reload" button.

ESPN is a great site to find the scores of major league baseball games. Check out http://www.espn.com/ then go for the 'MLB'/'Major League Baseball' tab. Then, click on the 'Scoreboard' link. (If you're having a hard time, just surf directly to http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/scoreboard). You have real-time scores in the major leagues for that day and you can also check scores from previous games. It's even possible to check the scoreboard, while it's still blank, for future Major League Baseball games.

CBS Sports is another site that you should visit regularly. CBS Sports is regarded as one of the originators of great athletic information. This is a great site that will provide you with the information you want such as real time scores and standings. Go to the main webpage and search 'MLB' (the MLB division). After you've reached that page, click on the "Scoreboard" link at the top of the page. This is where you will find current scores of all games in progress in both National and American leagues. Don't forget to refresh or reload your page often to get the latest scoring.

Tiffany Provost writes about baseball and other sports tips for HowToDoThings.com.

3 Decorating Tips For Adorning Large Living Rooms

If you happen to own a house that has a considerably large living room, you may constantly find it hard to decorate such a huge space accordingly. Similar to small spaces, large areas are not immune to several decorating troubles. When it comes to adequately adorning a huge living room, a proper way of utilizing the available space is considered as the most important job.

Below are some helpful decorating tips for you to keep in mind when decorating a large living room to make the most of our huge space on your hands.

Use Darker Colors

If you want a bigger space to look smaller, then using dark colors are effective decorating tips for large living rooms. Paint the living room's walls a few shades darker than you usually would, and you will notice that the room will appear much smaller than otherwise.

Alternatively, if you don't like the idea of having a smaller place, you can instead try to use darker accessories that will give the room a relatively lesser huge feel, so it doesn't look like a deserted space as if you've just moved in.

Use Space Accordingly

One of the most effective decorating tips for a large living room is to use its space according to how large the room actually is. This means that all of the room's seating furniture should not be too near each other. Spread the furniture pieces out so that it will look as though they were evenly distributed within the room.

Be sure that you have plenty of gaps or space between the coffee table and the couch so people or visitors can walk in between the two pieces of furniture with ease. When you take advantage of the space properly, you can avoid making the place too open and cold, hence, making it more charming, comfortable and inviting to the guests.

Hang Large Pieces of Art Decorations

The pieces of decorative artwork that you use in order to accentuate your room should be well-planned according to the empty space that you have. If you have a significantly large blank wall, you will not likely hang a 5 x 7 painting on it. Instead, try hanging a painting that accumulates almost half of the upper portion of your living room wall.

Also you can easily mount a huge flat screen TV with a TV bracket that will not only make great use of the empty space but also give you extra entertainment ideas. You could easily invite your neighbors and friends over for a late night movie or to watch that famous football game that everybody has been looking forward to.

Having proper lighting is also important in filling up a huge empty living room space. This is why strategically placing a few glass wall sconces you will make the best use of that ample area. Visit wall sconces lighting to learn more on the lighting fixture types that can help you with this endeavour.

Understanding Baseball Speed Training: Part 2

Those spring days that I spoke about in Part I of this series are fast approaching. I can only assume (which you shouldn't do) that the gloves are being oiled and that we've been swinging the stick in the cages and working out hard for our up-coming season.

In the last article, I had given you a starting point to speed training with various drills to assist in the development of your agility and first-step quickness.

Before diving into a sample program that I have used with athletes, let's take a look back at a few of the points that I made last time, just to ensure we understand our goals.

First, you are not training for a track meet. If you run track that is fine, but in this case we are looking to improve our speed for the benefit of our sport. When you are waiting to steal a base or get that jump that is needed from the outfield to run and dive for that fly ball, you don't have the luxury of getting into a perfect stance and waiting for the gun to fire.

Second, aerobic endurance work will do nothing to enhance speed. I don't' care how fast you run the mile, it doesn't mean you can get from Point A to Point B fast. Take a look at the difference in body composition between a top marathon runner and a world-class sprinter.

Ok, with those two points hammered home let's take a look at a sample workout that I have used with some of my athletes. This speed session is going to focus on the development of the 30 and 60-yard sprint work that is often incorporated into baseball camps.

Before I have my athletes or clients engage in any type of physical training I always prescribe some type of dynamic warm-up. This time is used to elevate the body's core temperature and prepare the joints for the up-coming session.

Because of the movements required in baseball, we must make sure that we warm up the rhomboid (back of the shoulder) muscles. These muscles are responsible to keeping the shoulders healthy because of all the forward over-hand throwing motions when playing. We will also want to make sure that our lower body is activated in the warm-up to help with hip and leg mobility.

Contact me if you don't know how to prescribe or set up a proper warm-up. If you are just jogging a lap and static stretching before your games, then your wasting time.

The Session:

This a sprinting rotational ladder that I have used with some of my athletes and I have varied the distances and the amount of the volume or total sprint work depending on their age and their current athletic level.

o Your rest periods will be 1 minute between each sprint.

o You will need 4 cones (or something just to mark off the appropriate distance)

o You will only be sprinting to either a 15, 30 or 60 yard marked distance.

Set your cones up giving yourself a starting point and then place one cone at 15 yards, one at 30 yards and the final cone at 60 yards.

o When sprinting 15 yards you will start from a push-up position lying flat on your stomach.

o When sprinting 30 yards you will start from a lateral position (similar to stealing a base.)

o When sprinting 60 yards you will start from a normal two point athletic stance.

o You will complete all of the 15 yard sprints before moving onto the 30's and so on.

Bracket 1.

15 yard sprint = 5x (times)

30 yard sprint = 3x

60 yard sprint = 1x

Bracket 2.

15 yard sprint = 1x

30 yard sprint = 5x

60 yard sprint = 3x

Bracket 3.

15 yard sprint = 3x

30 yard sprint = 1x

60 yard sprint = 5x

After your final rest time, finish the workout session with a static stretch routine.

A couple of key points that I would like to make.

o First, when taking off from a push-up position make certain that you are looking into the ground. If you are looking upward this causes the head to pull the rest of the body up too fast during the acceleration phase of the sprint. 15 yards is about acceleration!

o Second when running the 30-yard sprints alternate the lateral direction you are facing.

o Third, when running the 60-yard sprint, RELAX! You won't be fast if you are all tensed up.

o And finally, don't lie down between sprints. I actually prefer my athletes to walk around or back to the starting point.

Once again this is just a sample of something that I use. It's not the end all, but it works. Give it a shot and let me know how it works for you. I will outline a weekly program in the future.

Until then remember keep having fun and work hard!

Shawn is an independent performance coach. He is a graduate of Waynesburg College where he was an all-conference defensive back and attended CFL/NFL tryouts in 1994. He is a certified Renegade Training practioner under world renown Strength & Conditioning Coach John Davies, and is a certified Speed / Agility and Quickness Trainer through N.E.S.T.A. (National Endurance and Sports Trainers Association)

Visit his website http://www.gamespeed.biz which is the most comprehensive web site regarding performance training for anyone. He delivers top notch products and information for anyone!

Top 10 Most Overrated Things In Sports

Here is the second installment of a new column called 'Top 10 Things In Sports', a new weekly thing that I will do. Here is your list of the Top 10 things in sports that we think are way overrated and people care way too much about.

#10 NHL Regular Season

There were a lot of mixed emotions about me leaving off the NHL from 'The Top 10 Things in Sports That Suck', but don't worry hockey haters. The shallow and pedantic NHL regular season makes this list instead. Go watch a regular season hockey game and then tell me it should be on ESPN. In the NHL, if it ain't the playoffs it ain't interesting, unless it is sixty minutes of fighting.

#9 Bad NBA Teams

The lowest-tier teams of the National Basketball Association may achieve a new goal this season by featuring three teams with less than twenty wins. If it happens it will be the first time since 2001 that the league has at least three such teams. The competitors this year are the Minnesota Timberwolves (17-50), the Memphis Grizzlies (16-51), the Seattle SuperSonics (16-52), and the current leading Miami Heat (12-55). Next year, to be fair, I think the Heat should move down to NCAA College Division II basketball. People have always said that any NBA team can beat another team on any given night, but if you are gonna tell me that right now, well than that's just crazy!

#8 Weird NFL Game-times

In case anyone was wondering, NFL games are supposed to be played on Thanksgiving Day, Sundays, and every Monday Night, but the league seems to think otherwise. NFL, why don't you stop screwing with us and scheduling games on random Thursday and Saturday nights; it'd be much appreciated.

#7 Watching Baseball on TV

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the sport of baseball, America's supposed "pastime", but watching baseball on television just isn't the same as being at the game. The ball is almost never in play, you lose your focus so easily while doing other stuff, and you'll miss your entire episode of "Lost." Just go to the ballpark next time. Your league worst Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates or Kansas City Royals will really appreciate your business.

#6 Referees

As a kid I was always taught to treat the ref with respect and I did my best except for the time I punched the mean old guy (just kidding), but recently a lot of refs have really gotten on my nerves. If these guys want respect from the players than they need to stop making horrible calls, and that's right betting on the games.

#5 Pro All-Star Games

I'm just going to go ahead and say it: If you watch the NFL Pro-Bowl you have way too much time on your hands. You really need to go get a hobby or something if that's the case. More than that I don't like All-Star games because who wants to see superstars play each other and look just ordinary when they can play mediocre players on other teams and look magnificent.

#4 Part of College Football's Bowl Season

It really bums me out when I see a bowl game is on TV the last week in December and then it's something like the New Orleans Bowl. I think once, when I was younger, all of the bad bowl games actually made me sick, gave me chicken pox, and made me miss about a week of school. But this year when they put the International Bowl on January 5 and the GMAC Bowl on January 6 it really made me want to upchuck.

#3 MMA

Before you attack me on this one, let me just say that I have watched mixed martial-arts before. The problem is that any time I have ever seen it, the two guys "fighting" just end up on top of each other humping and fighting like little girls. At least the Rock had really moves in wresting, you know, like the people's elbow.

#2 Specific Knowledge Sports "Experts"

Guys like Mel Kiper Jr. and Joe Lunardi really piss me off because it seems like they are getting paid and get to be on TV for absolutely no reason. Both of these guys are so called "experts" in the NFL draft and bracketology, respectively. The problem I see with that is that they never tell me anything that I don't know or I can't look up.

#1 College Basketball RPI

The RPI, or Ratings Percentage Index, is outdated and because of the NCAA's flip-flop mentality they really need to just get rid of the thing. It's obvious that the NCAA college basketball selection committee didn't use the RPI as much of a factor this year because while Dayton and Illinois State (ranked 32 and 33 in RPI) didn't get in the tournament, Kentucky and Oregon (ranked 57 and 58 in RPI) did. Personally, I think it's a stupid and incomplete stat so NCAA should do us all a favor and get rid of it. And you guys probably used the dumb thing to help fill out your brackets. Suckers!

Most of what I submit to this website can be found at my blog http://sportsnationblog.blogspot.com Please feel free to go check it out and take a visit. I love feedback from my readers so if you want to tell me something then email me at sportsnationblog@gmail.com

Dallas Cowboys Verses Washington Redskins

Arguably the fiercest rivalry in the history of the NFL reconvenes tonight in the nation's capital, as the Dallas Cowboys meet the Washington Redskins in a matchup of teams that are headed in two very different directions. Last weekend, the Cowboys exercised some major demons as they physically dominated the previously unbeaten New Orleans Saints in the Superdome scoring a major victory in the month of December.

Going into that game the Cowboys were in the midst of their annual December swoon, losing close back-to-back games to the Giants and Chargers. In danger of falling out of the playoff picture, Dallas put together what was their finest performance of the season. With that win, Dallas is currently occupying one of the two remaining Wild Card spots. Meanwhile the Washington redskins are on the opposite end of the fortune spectrum, in the midst of an utterly disappointing season that recently saw them get blasted by the Giants at home on Monday Night Football.

It was the worst home loss in the history of the franchise, as new General Manager Bruce Allen watched his new team look as lifeless as possible. Washington's season is over, but they do have the opportunity to play the role of spoiler to their hated foes. Dallas needs the game too, so expect a tough game, as was evidenced by their previous meeting this season where the Cowboys came back to win a grueling 6-3 affair.

What the Dallas Cowboys achieved last weekend against the Saints was nothing short of a miracle. They were chastised all week about their habit of fading down the stretch of season, particularly in the month of December, and got was pretty much their most significant victory of the season. The Cowboys manhandled the Saints in a 24-17 win that was only close in the fourth quarter. Now one could argue that all that win did was keep them in the running for a Wild Card spot, but the significance of what that win meant to them on a psychological level was monumental. It injected confidence into this group, which last time we checked, is a very talented one.

Particularly quarterback Tony Romo, who has quite simply played his ass off over the last three games, if not the season as a whole. In 2009, Romo has thrown for 3,886 yards, 23 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions, while driving the leagues third most prolific offense, producing an average of 394.5 yards per game. The pair of Marion Barber and Felix Jones has been very productive thus far, and was on center stage against in New Orleans, as the combined for 120 yards and two scores on the ground. The offensive line remains one of the most massive in the league, and is capable of creating gaping holes for either back to explode through. In the receiving game receiver Miles Austin and tight end Jason Witten have been the top targets, as the former leads the team with 1,138 yards while the latter has posted a team-best 82 catches.

Defensively, Dallas got a huge lift from their star pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware, who made life hell for New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees all night, despite spraining his neck the previous week. Ware has eleven sacks on the season, and got two of them against New Orleans, while his opposite number Anthony Spencer added a pair as well. Wade Phillips' crew held a Saints' offense that has been a machine all year to season lows of 17 points and 336 yards. It should be noted that the majority of those yards came in the fourth quarter when they were already down 24-3. Dallas' run defense ranks sixth overall, as they are holding teams to a paltry 97.7 yards per game. Washington will try to run the ball tonight to keep that pass-rush off quarterback Jason Campbell, but Dallas has proved that they can take it away from just about any team, making their opposition one dimensional, which will be the gameplan tonight.

In the midst of a very forgettable season that has seen the Washington Redskins amass only four wins, the loss to the New York Giants last week on Monday Night Football must have felt like rock bottom. At least that is what it looked like. Washington appeared uninspired throughout the contest, as the Giants quickly jumped out to a 21-0 lead before the half. At one point the 'skins had only accounted for three plays over halfway through the second quarter, as the Giants went on to a 45-12 beatdown. Nevertheless, what exactly do the Redskins have to play for? Their head coach has been a lame duck since the third week of the season, their quarterback has struggled to play behind a decimated offensive line, while productive players like Clinton Portis and Chris Cooley have been out for over half of the campaign.

The playoffs haven't been a possibility as another lost season is almost over, with a myriad of changes surely on the horizon. However, hey, they still have a rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys, and they still get to play the role of spoiler that could just be enough to get these guys up for a Sunday, for a change. As we said earlier, the aforementioned Campbell has struggled, throwing for 3,138 yards, 18 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, but has had had to play without the benefit of a cohesive offensive line, which has started ten different player this season, two of which are undrafted rookies. Help in the backfield has been hard to come by, as head coach Jim Zorn is on his third starting tailback, while the receiving corps has once again underachieved (like that is a surprise.).

The defense on the hand, has been one of the best in the NFL, despite being on the field far too often. Defensive ends Andre Carter and rookie Brian Orakpo have been tenacious, each registering eleven sacks, while massive nose tackle Albert Haynesworth has performed very well, despite playing through a nagging ankle injury. The problem here is that this unit simply hasn't taken the ball away, forcing just 15 turnovers thus far, which is tied for last in the league. For as much heat as they put on the quarterback they don't make many plays on the back end. In order to successfully spoil the playoff push of their nemesis they have to find a way to make plays on defense, because lord knows they haven't been able to do it on the other side of the ball.

Joe Martin is the President and Owner of Oracle Sports Handicapping. He has been in the sports handicappers business for over 19 years. With a staff of sports handicappers on board sports picks are weighed by statistical, mathematical and human choice. Emotions are never a factor here at Oracle Sports and should never be part of a sports handicappers decisions. Joe Martin and the staff of Oracle Sports Handicapping can be reached at 1-866-553-1901 or http://www.oraclesports.net.

Simple NFL Systems #112 - Favourites and Cold Weather Conditions

After 14 years of actively handicapping NFL games versus the Vegas line, I have had the chance to explore literally hundreds of different trends based on a vast array of stats and situational factors, covering almost every facet of the game.

The key word above is 'almost' and one area I have not focused on up until this point concerns game conditions, a category which includes such variables as: game-time temperature, humidity and wind speed along with playing surface type as well as the general weather conditions (aside from temperature and humidity) present at the start of the game (i.e., Partly Sunny, Cloudy, Snow, Light Rain, etc).

The biggest reason I have ignored this data over the past decade-and-a-half is probably more an issue of timing than anything else: Making wagers based on weather conditions is a difficult task 6 days before a game is actually due to be played--which is roughly when my full analysis is normally released to my customers and anyone else that may be interested in some of the sample trends I provide.

Ultimately, the determination of whether or not a weather-based trend is or isn't in play has to be made in the 30-60 minutes before game-time, which obviously doesn't fit into my existing schedule all that well.

Despite this, I thought it still might be worthwhile to look at some of these factors over the summer of '08 and using game book data from the past 7 seasons, I have now added the following 6 columns to my database to allow for further study:

Temperature (TEMP)
Humidity (HUMD)
Wind Speed (WSPD)
Wind Direction (WDIR)
General Conditions (COND)
Playing Surface (SURF)

The first 5 of these are all based on the weather measurements taken at game-time and my data is not, unfortunately, advanced enough to account for whether the sun came out five minutes into a game that started out under a heavy-rainfall, or where the wind increased by 10 mph in the second half, etc, etc.

Also, while I tried my best to standardize and simplify the general 'conditions' listed in each game book (i.e., Chance of Rain, Partly Sunny, etc.), one on-site documenters interpretation of 'Light Snow' could look more like a 'Snow Storm' to someone else, depending on whether they happen to be from Florida, or Fargo.

Add the end of the day, this underlying subjectivity should be taken into account when attempting to use this information as a 'hard-and-fast' tool for handicapping purposes.

The various limitations of this data not with-standing, I have managed to locate a few interesting trends that have been present in the past 7 years and I will be showcasing some of these over the next few months in the form of 'Simple Systems' articles, exactly like this one.

One of the first things that jumped out at me after crunching the numbers for a few days is that: Favourites of at least 3 points are an excellent wager at a specific temperature range.

What is this temperature range you ask? It happens to be between 20 degrees Fahrenheit and 34 degrees Fahrenheit, the latter of which is just a hair above the freezing point of 32 degrees.

Favourites of at least 3 points that are playing within this temp range are an excellent 44-26 (62.9%) ATS since 2001, producing a profit of $1,540.00 at 10/11 odds ($110 wagered to win back $100 on each game). This situation has actually been equally powerful for both home favs and road ones. It is 37-23 ATS at home and a comparable 7-3 ATS on the road.

Before I go any further, there are some potential 'red-flags' that this situation raises which does put into question how well it may perform in 2008 and beyond.
The first is the fact that less than half the teams in the league have fallen into this situation (46.9% to be exact) since 2001--obviously, because many teams simply don't play in these colder outdoor conditions that often. In addition, we also happen to be dealing with a fairly narrow range as far as the game-time temperature goes that may or may not be truly significant over the long-run.

While I am cautionary about this trends future potential, it is certainly significant enough to warrant closer study in the coming season and I am even more confident of this fact after 2 Secondary conditions are added into the mix.

The first of these is to remove any games before Week 13 and in the Playoffs. This situation has had mixed results prior to Week 13 and in the Post Season, where a different set of rules apply as far as how teams typically behave versus the spread.

By including only games between Week 13 and 17, we are essentially only looking at contests within the month of December, where a temp range of 20 to 34 degrees is most prevalent anyway. Once this condition is added, the record improves greatly to 34-12 (73.9%) ATS.

The 2nd and final secondary condition for this situation is weather-related and it specifies that the game-time humidity is at least 50%.

Anyone familiar with the term 'humidex' is aware of the uncomfortable effect that higher humidity levels can have when combined with high temperatures.

What is not as well known is that fact that higher humidity levels can also increase the level of discomfort in cold conditions due to the effect of increased moisture levels in the air that can permeate into clothing, serving to make the air feel colder than it actually is.

Once again, in this case, the favourite seems to benefit and after eliminating all games with a below-average humidity level, this situation improves to 34-8 ATS (81.0%) with a profit of $2,520.00 over the past 7 years.

For those interested in using this situation in 2008: Here is a complete summary of all it's details.

(Notes: ASMR stands for Average Spread Margin Rating. A positive rating indicates a trend that is stronger than average versus the line, negative--weaker than average. TDIS% is the percentage of teams in the league that have been involved in this situation at one time or another. WT% is the percentage of teams that are .500 or better and SPR is the average spread for teams in this situation. For more details, please consult Page 13 of my 2007 NFL Game Sheets Guide.)

System #112 Summary

Primary Conditions (Building Blocks)
1) Favourite of > 3 PTS.
2) Game Time Temperature of 20-34 degrees Fahrenheit.

Secondary Conditions (Tighteners)
1) Week 13 to 17.
2) Game Time Humidity >= 50%.

System Stats
ASMR: 1.6
Home%: 76.2
Dog%: 0.0
TDIS%: 43.8
WT%: 85.7
SPR: -6.8
Top Teams: PIT(8); GB(7); NE(7); DEN(4)

System Record
Overall (Since '01): 34-8 ATS
2007 Season: 7-0 ATS
2006 Season: 2-1 ATS
2005 Season: 9-1 ATS
2004 Season: 6-2 ATS

Last 3 Results. Pick in Brackets
2007 WK17--GB 24 DET 13 (GB -4) W
2007 WK15--TEN 26 KC 17 (TEN -3.5) W
2007 WK15--CLE 8 BUF 0 (CLE -6) W

Dennis Arthur, a self-professed statistics junkie and American Football fanatic, has been providing innovative NFL analysis based against the Vegas point spread since 1999. For more wagering orientated articles like this one along with specialized team ratings and winning selections versus the spread, visit his site at http://www.armchairanalysis.com

For Trent Green, Retirement Beckons

Hang up your cleats Trent Green, hang up your cleats and quit.

Last Sunday, quarterbacking a football team like he's done so many times before, Trent Green found himself in a familiar situation: unconscious. Sustaining his second serious concussion in thirteen months, Green lay motionless on the field for several minutes before being carted away. It was like September 10, 2006 all over again and now it should be all over, again.

Enough is enough.

Concussions rate as some of the worst football injuries a player can have. While many are only symptomatic for two or three days, some can have lasting effects. Headaches, sensitivity to sound and light, memory loss, attention problems, dizziness, depression, impaired movements, and dementia are just some of the symptoms that can linger for months and even years. These affect football play but, more importantly, they also affect life.

It's time for Trent Green to quit while he's ahead, or at least while he still has a working one.

Let's face it: Green's career is on the decline. It's only to be expected. He's 37, he's been fighting injury, and he's playing for a team that is winless thus far in the season. Pursuing his football career is like lighting a match and playing with fire: his ability to function is at risk for getting burned.

Green would certainly not be the first NFL quarterback forced out of the game because of repeated concussions. Steve Young and Troy Aikman were both forced out prematurely because of head injury. Young was believed to have had at least seven concussions, while Aikman tipped the scales with ten. If two Hall of Fame quarterbacks had the (foot)balls to retire, Green should too. He'd definitely be in good company.

As far as football goes, Green has had a heck of a career. As a thirteen year veteran, he has thrown for over 3,000 yards in a season six times and for over 4,000 yards in a season three times. He also has 157 touchdown passes on his resume.

But now, it's time to change fields.

At the age of 37, Green is still considered young outside the world of sports. He's married, he has kids, he's active in charities, he's one of the NFL's true good guys, and he has the majority of his life left to prove it. He has more important things ahead than football; the best is yet to come.

A Tony Romo quote probably says it best. After flubbing the hold for the winning field goal in the Dallas versus Seattle playoff game last year, he was asked how he would recover. He simply put it in perspective by saying, "If something in sports is the worst thing that ever happens to you, you've lived a pretty good life."

To Trent Green, those words should ring true. In sports, it's called "playing" for a reason. Simply, the game of football does not parallel the game of life. .

Hang up your cleats Trent Green, hang up your cleats and quit.

Jennifer Jordan is a senior editor for www.milleniumlimo.com. An avid sports fan, she likes the Miami Dolphins but her heart belongs to the Denver Broncos.

Bird Feed - Philadelphia Eagles Have a Tough Road Ahead

Over the past decade, the Eagles' faithful have come to expect at least one inexplicably horrible game every season. In 2009, that game showed up a few weeks earlier than expected for Andy Reid and his flock of birds. The Eagles are 3-2 and have more than enough time to straighten things out, so this is no time to panic. At least not until you look at what lies ahead. Now start panicking.

The combined record of the Eagles future opponents is 37-21. That's not comforting to a team that has yet to find its groove. Of their 11 remaining games, only the Redskins are unlikely to compete for a playoff spot. Playing in the NFC East doesn't help either. Unlike the NFC North (Lions), South (Bucs), and West (Rams), the Eagles do not have a "walk-over" team in the division that guarantees them two easy victories. Yes, the Redskins are flirting with that line, but they're not there just yet. (Please note: Right now, nothing should be considered easy for the Eagles, especially after a loss to the Raiders.)

Due to the level of play in the NFC this year, it is very possible that a 10-6 team will miss the playoffs. The Eagles will be battling the 49ers or Cardinals, Bears, Cowboys, Falcons, and Packers for two wildcard positions. The division champions are far from set, but as it stands now that is who they'll need to pass. The Eagles will have every opportunity to make the playoffs as they play all of the teams noted above except for the Packers and Cardinals. Excluding the obvious importance of division contests, the games at Chicago and Atlanta will be the two most important games for the Eagles. If they lose both, they'll essentially need to win the division to qualify for the playoffs because of the tie-breaking scenarios. Again, this is all according to the conference landscape right now. There's a 99.9% chance it will look significantly different in another six weeks. The Eagles offense better have a different look in six weeks as well.

Raise your hand if you've heard this before, Andy Reid needs to balance out his offense. Can anyone explain to me why, when you're averaging 4.8 yards per rush, you run the ball less than 25% of your total offensive plays? The following answers are not good enough: Andy is Reid is too dumb, Andy Reid needs to be fired, Brian Westbrook is old, Andy Reid wanted a cheeseburger. Yes, the Eagles trailed the entire day and yes, cheeseburgers are delicious, but the Eagles were never behind by more than one score, ever. Throwing the ball around the field 46 times was asinine. Add to that the, "equal opportunity hit our quarterback," pass protection scheme, and the decision to continue throwing made even less sense. When your offense is struggling, you shorten the game and grind away at the opposing defense.

The Eagles have invested more money in the offensive line than any other position. Yet, Reid continually asks them to drop back in protection a million times a day. It's absurd. Reid should have established the run, worked the aerial attack off of the play-action, and been content winning 16 to 13. My little niece/nephew hasn't been born yet and even she/he knows that McNabb doesn't respond well to constant pressure and beatings from defensive lineman. In fact, early pressure, knockdowns, sacks, etc, will affect the production of any NFL quarterback. Again, throw McNabb a bone, Reid. Run the ball! Loooooonnnnnngggggg tangent here... I love Donovan McNabb. I hate that he whines about how he's portrayed and I hate that he responds to pressure situations by smiling and laughing. However, I don't think he doesn't care like a lot of people do. I would like to see him respond like some of his peers in game changing situations; intense, focused, staring holes through the opposition a la Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, or Mariano Rivera.

Unfortunately, the Eagles can't change who he is. Although, they can understand who/what he is and play to his strengths. For example, McNabb isn't going to thread a ball through a defense and surgically dissect them like Peyton Manning. McNabb's accuracy is average at best. Why then do the Eagles employ a group of small receivers that are never going to win a battle for a jump ball or sail across the middle for an errant pass? McNabb had this type of receiver for one year and looked untouchable. As we all know, the arrangement went sour and the Eagles never replaced Mr. Owens with a similar weapon. McNabb knows he needs that type of receiver. That's why he continually lobbied management for more weapons. They've responded recently, but not with the big, physical receiver that McNabb needs. Andy Reid knows McNabb's limitations and ignores them in his personnel decisions. That's not Donovan's fault.

The Eagles are also battling a combination of defensive issues and game mis-management. We'll ignore game management because it hasn't improved in ten years and we'd be foolish to expect a change now. The defense, however, has been uncharacteristically poor in its tackling and secondary play. The numbers for the Eagles defense are decent; 4th in total yards/game, 6th in passing yards/game, and their points per game average isn't too bad either considering they surrendered 48 points in one week (51 points in their four other games combined). Regardless, I'm concerned. The Eagles have played one legitimate offense and got whipped. They still can't solve a tight end and their tackling has suffered immensely without Stewart Bradley anchoring the middle of the field. Omar Gaither is solid, but he and Jeremiah Trotter are consistently exposed in coverage. With the athletic tight ends in the league today, defenses can't hide a linebacker that is susceptible in pass coverage. Unfortunately, the Eagles have three (Gaither, Trotter, and Chris Gocong).

Worst of all, the Eagles' blitz has been wildly inconsistent in flustering quarterbacks, even JaMarcus Russell. We've only seen the secondary challenged once, and the result was ugly. Asante Samuel is, in my opinion, overrated. Unless the quarterback is under heavy pressure, he's not a shut down corner. Samuel won't cover an above average receiver for more than a few seconds, which is a few seconds longer than Ellis Hobbs will cover anyone. The safeties are still trying to adjust to each other. Again, they haven't been tested that often but against the Saints and Kellen Winslow they looked overwhelmed. Excluding the Redskins and 49ers, all of the Eagles' remaining opponents have an offense that is capable of producing a lot of yards and a lot of points. Through five games, the Eagles defense does not appear up to the challenge.

Remember, this is the NFL; the standings we see today will not look the same at the end of the season. If the Eagles hope to improve their place in those standings, they've got a lot of work to do and only a few days to do it. Their season begins Monday night. We will know after the next five games if we have a contender to support, or if we should hibernate until the Phillies report to Clearwater.

Enjoy the article? Thought it was horrible? Please share your thoughts.
Contact me at ryan@4thanddone.com
Website: http://4thanddone.com/

Your 1000 Day Vision

"You are not given a dream without the capacity to make it a reality.. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.

This piece is about choosing where you are going to be in 1000 days (i.e., three year's time). Before you skeptics come up with your "yeah, buts," let me say that part of me agrees with you! I'm usually wary about the idea of having a grand plan knowing that plans and reality can be very different. Real life can sometimes turn out to be much better than our plans! But the idea behind this piece is to identify key areas in your life and to really visualise what you want in them. After all, this is about looking at who you would like to be 1000 days from now and making your fantasies a reality.

Step 1

The first part of this is actually writing down all the amazing, wonderful ambitions you have for various parts of your life. This is the first part of making them real. It may take a couple of days to do this. The end of a holiday is an excellent time to do this; the chances are you will feel relaxed, positive and more open to change. Then choose a quiet place to do this by yourself. Get some blank paper or open a new file on your computer. Then choose a page for each of the following areas: Career, Relationships, Money, Spirituality/Meaning, Health, Personal or whatever areas you want to create goals in. Write the heading at the top of each page. Then close your eyes and fantasise about what you really really want in each of these areas of your life. Write them in a series of bullet points. Leave the "yeah, buts" at the door. There will be time to look at them later! Then just write and write about what your ideals/fantasies would be under each of these areas. For example, under career you want to be earning 150,000 a year, running your own business, being a manager. Under personal goals, you could have that you want to visit Egypt. Do not censor yourself. Allow yourself to write for 10 minutes for each of these headings. Read them back and see what hops up. Now leave them for a while.

Step 2

The next step is to re-visit your goals and see what really grabs you. Now, re-organise your goals by 1 year, 2 year and 3 year headings. (This is easier to do in a computer file but if you have it on paper; use another sheet for these headings). You should now have a clear set of goals grouped by heading and timeline. At this stage you may decide to add, delete or amend these goals.

Step 3

For each of the headings (money, relationships etc) you have chosen, select one goal in each of the year brackets and then decide what is the next step you can take to begin making them a reality. One delightful thing about doing this exercise is that it is almost as if the universe conspires with you to help! It also helps to be open to the way this could come about. I did this exercise about 2 months ago and one of the things I had on my list was having a makeover. I recently met a woman who does this sort of work and it turns out that we were able to barter our skills! This now means that both of us get to achieve a goal without it costing us a penny. Those of you that had your "yeah, buts" now get a chance to exercise your sceptic muscle! Do a reality check on these goals. If you are over 40 and have hardly ever exercised, it is unlikely you will get picked to play for Manchester United...but there's no reason why you couldn't join an over-40's football team!

Step 4 - Keeping It Real

No doubt when you do this exercise at the beginning, you will be full of enthusiasm but it's very easy for our most secret and dearest hopes and ambitions to get swallowed up in the rush of daily living. Therefore, this last step is the most crucial in some ways. Write down your goals and keep them near you, at your computer, by your bedside...somewhere where you are constantly reminded of them. Only choose 3-4 as more will probably seem overwhelming and make a decision to take some action (no matter how small) to making them a reality. Do not get too fixed on the exact nature of your goal. For example, if you desire to meet the man/woman of your dreams and then meet a great person who happens to earn less than you or is living 50 miles away, don't immediately dismiss them! Your vision is something that needs to be revisited every 3-6 months. Set aside time in your diary to revisit, re-evaluate and re-write your goals. Enlist the support of a friend or a coach to keep you on track. On the other hand, don't be surprised to find that some of your goals have come true almost effortlessly once you take the time to write them down and think about them. As Walt Disney said "if you can dream it, you can do it!" Go for it!

Anne Walsh is a life coach based in Co. Galway. You receive a free 10 part e-course called "Personal Freedom" when you sign up to her free monthly newsletter: Bring your best self to light at http://www.annewalshcoach.com

Who Has the Best Special Teams in the NFL?

When you consider how critical field position is in a close game, no team has a better combination of kicking, punting, coverage and returning than the San Diego Chargers.

This was clear in their playoff win over the Colts when time after time Peyton Manning looked up to find his offense inside their own 20, 10, 5 and even had to start on their one-yard-line. Mike Scifres established himself as one of the NFL's great punters that night. Even though he's never been to a Pro Bowl, ESPN recently selected him as the NFL's punter of the decade. The man who snaps him the ball, David Binn, was selected by ESPN to the same team. Binn has played in more games than any other Charger and was a rookie in their only Super Bowl season (1994). He continues to be a model of consistency and even serves as a backup QB. This same punt coverage squad also boasts a two time Pro Bowler, Kassim Osgood. A frustrated receiver who rarely catches a pass, Osgood has taken his anger out on opposing returners. At least once a game KO makes a play like causing a fumble, recovering a fumble, a great tackle or downing a ball inside the 20. Scifres' punts are so high that they rarely get returned and he can boom one when the Bolts find themselves backed up in their own territory. It's not often when a punter can be considered a legitimite weapon and that's what the Chargers have in Scifres.

Pro Bowler Nate Kaeding has had his share of critics over the years. His early playoff performances were disappointing, his kickoffs didn't result in touchbacks and his fieldgoal range was limited. However, Kaeding used 2008 to break away from past demons and silence his critics. Since coming into the league Kaeding is the second most accurate kicker in the NFL. He doesn't get many chances to try long fieldgoals because of the rule change that places missed fieldgoals at the spot of the kick. Almost all kickers are limited in that regard to the end of the first half and the end of the game. At the end of the first half against Tampa Bay last December head coach Norv Turner allowed Nate a chance to try a long one against the Bucs. Kaeding connected on a club record 57 yarder that cleared the bar by several feet. In the playoffs Nate has made his last six attempts to put that problem behind him. His kickoffs could still use some improvement, but nobody's perfect.

Darren Sproles is the biggest little man in the NFL. He returns both punts and kickoffs for the Chargers and consistently puts his team in good field position. He has three returns for touchdowns in his career, one of those was last year. He's so darn small that he literally gets lost behind the huge lineman who play this game. His quick little steps are his trademark as he darts through holes no other human could squeeze through. With the new rule change concerning kickoff wedges, there could be more gaps for Sproles to exploit in 2009 and more chances to take it to the house.

The only weakness this unit has is a tendency to let down occasionally on kickoff coverage and no blocked kicks in recent memory. They did execute a critical onside kickoff against the Chiefs that allowed them to steal a win in December and keep their playoff hopes alive. Scifres made the kick, Osgood the recovery. The Chargers might send muliple players from this unit to the Pro Bowl again and the NFL's best special teams could help their team win it's first Super Bowl.

Tim Wayne is a freelance writer.

NY Giants Kiss 2009 Season Goodbye

With a loss to the Carolina Panthers in week 16, it looks like the 2009 NFL season may be over for the New York Giants.

This comes as a major surprise given the team's 5-0 start to the season and the fact that they've made 4 playoffs in 5 years, but that's how it goes in the sports world sometimes.

The Giants came into week 16 with a must win situation. Facing the Carolina Panthers at home, the team entered the week with an 8-6 record, trailing both the Cowboys and the Packers by a game.

Another loss would be a crippling blow to this football club, as the Giants surely couldn't depend on Green Bay and Dallas to both lose each of their last two games.

The Giants were a 7 point favorite to win against the Panthers, leading many to believe that this would be an easy game for the team. With a new quarterback in Matt Moore, the Panthers looked to be somewhat revitalized. Still, the Giants were expected to win this game.

The results turned out to be the opposite of what was expected. The Panthers jumped out to an early lead and took control of a game that never belonged to the Giants.

With a 24-0 lead after the end of the first half, it looked as if this game was completely out of reach for New York. And that it was.

The Panthers ended up winning by a score of 41-9, with a standout performance by QB Matt Moore. The Giants lost an extremely disappointing game, and it looks as if the season is just about done in New York.

Barring a miracle, fans of the team will have to look forward to 2010 for any hopes of a playoff appearance. Needless to say, this was the last thing fans expected after the start of the season.

Scott Maloney also writes about the small bathtub at http://smallbathtubs.net.

March Madness Is On the Horizon!

With NFL and NCAA football over and done with, spring training not being in full swing for awhile, the NBA approaching the All-star break and hockey, well, being hockey, American sports fans have only one thing attracting their attention - college basketball. NCAA basketball is right in the middle of its season and is displaying some absolutely brilliant performances. So much so that February, the month that is notorious for gloomy weather and a lack of holiday festivities (well, there is Valentine's Day, but unless you are a girl this day is just another excuse for Hallmark and See's to empty you wallet) is spreading cheer throughout the country and giving us something to look forward to - March Madness.

I cannot think of any other venue that offers as much as March Madness. The best 64 teams in the country squaring off in a one-and-done tournament where old rivalries resurface and new rivalries are born. 63 games in 17 days! Dick Vitale shouting at the top of his lungs!! Buzzer beaters, triple overtimes and net-cutting celebrations!!! And how can you forget, BRACKETS!!!! You just can't ask for anything more than that.

The excitement in me is building to dangerous levels. I simply can't wait to get it started. So, I won't. Here are the teams who I think will be in the Final Four come March.

1. Duke - The Blue Devils showed incredible poise and determination by beating the Tarheels in Chapel Hill - two things every final four team needs. Coach K has his team firing on all cylinders. Barring some kind of injury to a major role player, the Blue Devils will be there in the end.

2. Kansas - They can run and gun AND they can set up the half court. They can shoot the three AND bang down low. The can defend zone AND man to man. They have size, strength and speed. I don't see a weakness. The Jayhawks are playing well and will be a tough matchup for anyone.

3. UCLA - The Bruins have 5 players who average double-figures in the points column. The only other teams who have that kind of depth are Duke, Kansas and Xavier. Simply put, the Bruins can come at you from any angle. Most teams just will not be able to handle that much firepower.

4. The Darkhorse - Drake - The Bulldogs are having a dream season. Yes, they don't play other top 25 teams during the regular season, but confidence is huge is college basketball. And with only one loss on the season, Drake has a lot of it. (I would have chosen North Carolina as the fourth spot, but with injuries to Ty Lawson and other Tarheel role players, North Carolina will have difficulty handling the ball) Drake is a team full of sharp shooters. If they can continue their hot streak, midnight may never strike during this Cinderella's run in March.

These are my picks. But then again, March Madness is known for its unpredictability. That's part of its allure. You really never know what is going to happen.

Nishan Wilde is VP of Sales at RobbinsSports.com, an online resource for Baseball Uniforms, Basketball Uniforms and Track Uniforms.

Major Sport Events in 2009

Every year there are 1,000's of events that make the landscape each year. Year after year sporting events will transform the landscape for many. These top sporting events are only part that make each year so special.

The beginning of 2009 started off like every year with New Years. No New Years will ever start until the ball drops at Time Square in New York City. As the ball drops from the flagpole on top of Time's Square one million people gathered around to celebrate the year. It estimated that over a billion people across the globe watched this year as they celebrated the New Year.

The first major event of the year was the Super Bowl on February 1, 2009. The eyes of the world focused on Tampa Florida as the world's best that year squared off on the gridiron. This year those two teams were Arizona and Pittsburgh. Unlike most years this game went down to the final minutes. In the end Pittsburgh won on a play that will make all participants famous forever.

After the Super Bowl all eyes focused on the NCAA College Basketball season. The year of 2009 saw many teams trade of the number one ranking in the land. North Caroline was the early season favorite but fought with UConn, Louisville and others to keep the title of number one. The tournament took off this year with everyone filling out their brackets including President Obama. The NCAA Tournament might have not have had the thrillers in the past but a Cinderella was born. Michigan State dashed through the tournament heading home to Michigan for the Final Four. The nation got behind Michigan State and the struggling state of Michigan as they reached the Final Four. Ending up in the final North Carolina and Michigan State provided the buzz everyone expects each year. In the end Michigan State could not hold of the North Carolina onslaught providing the favorite to will it all this year.

The 2009 calendar has been eventful during the first quarter of the year. There is more to come from the sporting world this year. In April we will see Tiger's return to the Masters to keep us going. Augusta for most is the best place in the world for golf. This year with Tiger Wood's return to golf all eyes will even be more fixed on Augusta to see what happens.

Also in April will be the start of the NBA Playoffs and NHL Playoffs. Each provides drama like no other playoff tournament can. Both involve struggles of seven game series were stars become legends in each sport. Both sports have stars looking to take the next level. In the NBA can Lebron win a ring? Over in the NHL two great young starts are still looking for their first Stanley Cup. Will Sydney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin engrave their name on the Cup?

As summer comes upon us Europe and America's favorite sports come enter the spotlight. In the United States we see baseball starting. No other sport in America has as much tradition as baseball in the country. In Europe the start of summer brings in the end of the Union of European Football Association season. On May 20, 2009 we will see the final of the UEFA in Istanbul this year. Then on May 27, 2009 the season concludes with the Final Champions League in Rome.

In June the world will turn to Wimbledon to focus on Tennis. While other majors exist Wimbledon is the one that still captures the world's imagination.

In 2009 we wait and see the British Open and US Open to satisfy are golf taste. We will also be met by new NFL and college football seasons. With the World Series still out there after the conclusion of the World Baseball Classic we will have a new debate on the best baseball in the world. 2009 has many events past and to come that will be marked down forever.

We have more information about 2009 and 2010 events on our 2010 calendar and 2009 calendar websites and also our other articles.

How to Set Up an Office Pool For NFL Playoffs and Other Sporting Events

Office pools are good-natured fun that appeals to sports fans and non-sports fans alike. If your workplace has never hosted a betting pool, or if you've been asked to serve as "commissioner" this Super Bowl season, there are a few things you need to know to make for a winning, morale-building event.

First and most importantly, be sure you're not breaking any rules: neither the gambling laws of your state nor the guidelines of your place of employment. Then, let the fun begin!

This person who runs the office pool is usually called the "commissioner." But don't get too full of yourself: Being the commissioner is not all fun and games. Not only do you have to keep track of the game stats, you must also make sure the participants are getting their picks and money in on time. (The commissioner is usually also allowed to participate in the betting.)

The most common time for office pools is during the NFL playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl, or NCAA basketball's March Madness, but pools may also be held for hockey, college games or virtually any other event.

At least a week before the playoffs, the commissioner should begin to round up the players, being sure to invite everyone to participate. (Office pools should be a welcome escape from office politics!) Make sure everyone agrees upon the game setup and wagering amounts.

If you're hosting a NFL playoffs pool, you'll need to make a Super Bowl bracket or find one to download and print online. In 2009, the AFC and NFC divisional playoffs begin Jan. 10, and the season culminates with the Super Bowl on Feb. 1. For each game, have participants say which team they think will win (and, perhaps, the point spread) and as the games are played keep track of who's winning-both among the pro football teams and in the office pool.

Another common office pool game is the betting grid. Depending on the number of people playing in your office, create or find online an office pool grid with 25, 50 or 100 squares. Set a limit (which you can raise after everyone has had a shot) on how many squares each player can buy, as well as a price. ($1 to $5 per square is common.) Have each participant write his or her name in the square(s) purchased. Once the grid is full, randomly draw numbers from 0 to 9 and write them across the top of the grid. Then, draw again and write the new numbers along the left edge of the grid. Make copies of the grid for everyone to take home so they can track it on game day. The last digit of the score at each quarter, the half and the final score is what counts. The winner is the player whose name is where the two teams' scores meet on the X and Y grid. Agree beforehand how the payoff will be split among winners.

You can also make use of printable tournament brackets year-round if your office softball (or other sports) team participates in single-elimination or double-elimination tournaments, or for personal or league use. Look for templates that are in PDF or .DOC (Microsoft Word) form so you can write on or customize them as the tournament progresses.

Copyright 2009 by Kevin Savetz

Kevin Savetz is the creator of PrintableTournamentBrackets.net, a site providing printable sports brackets and blank betting grids, all free to instantly download and print in PDF or .DOC format. The site is part of the FreePrintable.net family of sites.

Matt Hasselbeck : Seattle Seahawks Quarterback

A native of Boulder, Colorado, Matthew Michael Hasselbeck was born on September 25, 1975. He currently plays the position of quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks after initially being drafted by the Packers during the 1998 NFL Draft.

After attending Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts, Matt Hasselbeck entered Boston College. Immediately after, he was drafted in the sixth round of the 1998 NFL Draft and began his professional football career in 1999 as backup for Brett Favre. The Packers later traded him and, in 2001, Matt Hasselbeck signed on with the Seattle Seahawks.

It would appear that the Seahawks made a good decision in selecting Hasselbeck, who became the team's all-time, highest-rated passer in 2003. In addition, he is currently ranked ninth in the NFL's all-time passer ratings. In 2005, Matt Hasselbeck's performance was regarded as one of the best in the NFL as he led the Seahawks to their third consecutive playoff appearance while boasting the highest passer rating in the NFC.

In January 2006, Matt Hasselbeck lead his team all the way to the SuperBowl XL and, even though his team was not victorious, this appearance marked the first for the Seahawks. With so many accomplishments, it's no surprise that Matt Hasselbeck's family would be filled with pride. He is the son of Don Hasselbeck, who is the former tight end for the New England Patriots and a brother to Tim Hasselbeck, who is the current backup quarterback for the New York Giants. His sister-in-law, Elisabeth, is best known as a co-host on daytime talk television's The View and she is also a former Survivor contestant. Reportedly in favor of being called Matthew, Hasselbeck finds that most do not abide by his wishes and usually refer to him as Matt instead.

Bob writes for fanfrenzyzone.com and GoAllout.com. Where you can purchase a Matt Hasselbeck Jersey [http://www.fanfrenzyzone.com/nfl/matt_hasselbeck.html] or Seahawks Tickets.

Free March Madness Brackets - Everything You Need to Know

First thing that you have to know about free march madness bracketsis what its components. You have to have a better understanding of the entire thing first before you actually fill out a bracket bet form. A bracket is not a collection of bets. In principle, it is a two way graphic representation of the entire collection of all the games played during a certain tournament, which, in this case, is the NCAA. They are called 'brackets' because they look like big populations of interlinking brackets, and look sort of the same as brackets used in linguistics. There a lot of different brackets, depending on what the tournament that you are looking at. In NCAA, the so-called art of making up your brackets is called bracketology. It is really just a pet name, but if you are rooting to be a professional bettor, you better know the terms early.

Bracket contests are usually found, and were first used, in professional sports leagues. This is because at the end of the normal season, the entire league would conduct an after-season tournament. This tournament is commonly called the playoffs. The playoffs will determine which team is really the best of all teams. This is practiced because often, when you go into professional playing, there are separate conferences. For example, for basketball, there is the Eastern Conference and Western Conference. So after both conferences, the east and west compete to see who the over-all champion is. The practice of playing the bracket contest in college basketball is a recent twist to the play. free march madness brackets used to be just a sideline of professional league bettors. Now, they are the star for enthusiasts.

For free March madness brackets, a lot of websites will require you to register and some of them are for a fee. After registration, you will fill out a form and you will predict who will win in each and every game including, of course, the champion of the tournament. If you are a beginner, better join a group, which is another option available in a lot websites. This is because you can compare your picks to theirs. You can interact with them to know the ropes of the game.

You win in free march madness bracketsby picking winning teams for each round. Each win will give you a specific number of points and each point is equivalent to a certain amount of money. This means that you have to take a look at the statistics and make sure that you are making a reasonable match up and a reasonable decision on who will win on each game. This will ensure that you will get winners. Do not go with 'gut feel'. This may be what masters say their secret is, but the truth is, the secret is statistics. If you know the statistics of the game and the teams, you can win. You will know which team will win over what teams. You will also know what the odds are if you know the statistics. It literally pays to know the data.

Chris Grisham is the creator of Basketball Crusher, the premier website for making money betting online sports. He has successfully been beating sportsbooks for years using his proven system and top Free March Madness Brackets tips based on lines, trends, angles, and years of experience. Learn about his system for FREE at http://www.BasketballCrusher.com

Should the Tennessee Titans Play Vince Young?

Vince Young is one of those quarterbacks who had the storybook college football career. Winning his team a national championship on a heroic play at the end of the 4th quarter, Young was on top of the world when he was selected to lead the Tennessee Titans to glory as their quarterback.

Drafted third overall in the 2006 draft (behind Reggie Bush and Mario Williams), Vince Young has spent three full seasons in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans. While he had a chance to act as the team's starting QB in 2007, he fell short of expectations, posting a rather low QB rating during the year.

Young simply wasn't ready to handle the job, they thought. After a shaky start to his 2008 season, Young was booed by fans during a game after throwing an interception. This led to a short-term disappearance and a rumored suicide attempt. Young simply couldn't handle the pressure.

Ironically, this team played even better under the leadership of Collins and finished with one of the best records in the NFL during the 2008 regular season.

At this point, it looked like Young was nowhere near ready to resume his role as a starter. Collins continued to thrive, but going into 2009, the Titans look like anything but their old selves.

Having lost their first 5 games, it seems like the playoff chances of this team are slim to none. Vince Young is 26, so now's as good a time as any to give him a shot. We may just see that in the weeks to come.

Come to the kate spade handbag site to learn about some great accessories, including some kate spade purses.

10 Steps To Setting Up An NFL Football Pool

Without a doubt, one of dad's favorite activities is watching football. It is is quite possible that he is involved with several football pools at work or with his friends. This year, why not surprise him by setting up an NFL football pool for him.

To successfully set up a pool, several steps should be followed. This articles will give you those steps. As playoff time nears, go to ESPN.com and find the playoff brackets. You will find a blank tree and spaces for the 12 playoff teams. Make enough copies for all of the people you expect to participate in your pool.Assign point values for each of the successive four rounds ' 1 point for teams reaching the second round, 2 points for those making the third, 4 points for NFC and AFC champions and 8 points for the Super Bowl champ. Give yourself plenty of lead time to find eager participants. Make sure to hand out the brackets with the instructions to fill in the name of the winning team in each bracket. Have all participants fill in their brackets with pen. At this point, you will need to decide on an entry fee amount. When determining the amount, be careful to take into consideration the experience level of the participants. Too large an amount may scare off those with little experience!

It is possible that a tie may occur. An excellent way to break a tie is to have each participant indicate the combined total score of the two Super Bowl teams. The participants must now supply you with their entry fee and a copy of their brackets. At this point, make sure you watch plenty of football and cheer on your favorite teams! Create a bracket key after the Super Bowl by filling in all the correct winners and grade each entry by awarding corresponding points. The prize will be determined by the individual with the highest total points. As mentioned earlier, should a tie occur, use the combined total points as a tie-breaker.

If the concept of "winner takes all" is not to your liking, give the winner 75% and the 2nd place finisher 25%. Oh, I almost forgot, if you have a great deal of football knowledge, be prepared to field questions from those that don't. How much you help them is up to you, but remember that you may want them to participate in next year's pool! Good Luck!

Michael Hutchins is a highly successful business analyst and entrepreneur with 30 years of experience. His company, "Rapid Results Marketing" helps small businesses creates winning business strategies. Michael was recently awarded an industry "scholar" status with The Gerson Lehrman Group of N.Y.City, N.Y. For a free business evaluation, and to find out what makes Michael "tick", GO HERE http://www.whoismikehutchinsllc.com

The NFL Season 2010

The last 17 weeks of football have been exciting, vigorous and full of entertainment. Now, we are ready to march on into what is known as the grand daddy of sports entertainment. The NFL playoffs. This 2010, the NFL playoffs are sure to be full of action and surprises. Hearts will beat faster than the sound of drums and happiness will be screamed off on the top of every supporter's voice. Each match is sure to bring a ton of excitement weather played at home or away. This is the route to stardom where the NFL play-offs will run and emerge into the Super Bowl.

This year the divisional league has brought along with it a number of teams that are sure to be the head turners this season. One of the most admired teams to look out for the season would be the Dallas Cowboys which a few weeks ago emerged as the NFC East champions. With a winning streak of over 17 wins over their rivals -the Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys are off to create world history with their 11:5 games streak record. Without a doubt, the Dallas Cowboys are guaranteed to make head spins this season even though they play without Terrell Owens. This year, one player to watch out for is Miles Austin who has managed to reach international fame during the course of 2009. In the North division, it is the Minnesota Vikings to look out for with their quarterback Adrian Peterson and Brett Favre.

This NFL season is ascertained to be one to look out for the stars will rise and fall in their sprint to make that touchdown.

Max has been writing articles for nearly 3 years. Head over to his latest website and get your Free Bonus report that will show you how you can work from home and make money online!

CLICK HERE To Get It => Make Money Online.

Developing Mental Toughness in Youth Football Players

As a youth football player I was one of those odd kids that loved to go to football practice. We all have some of those type of kids on our teams every year, but in todays world of unlimted choices and instant gratification, we see less and less of these kids these days. As a youth football player, I dreaded those first few weeks of torture and deprivation, but knew in the end that we would eventually get into learning the game and actually playing. Other youth players on my teams often never got to that point, they didn't know there was an end result that was worth waiting for, some would sour on the game or quit during those first miserable 2 weeks.

As time went on, I ended up playing High School, then College Football. The physical portion of the game became less important than the mental toughness needed to perform well. Being perfect with technique and assignment as well as the "mental toughness" of the individual was more important than just dominating physically at these upper levels. As a player moves up the ladder of competition, the disparities in talent are less and less pronounced and the mental portion of the game becomes more important.

At the youth level, the higher the level of competition the greater the importance of mental toughness is to the success of your team. If you have a stud player or two that has carried your team all season, when you get to the upper levels of competition, the other teams are going to have two to three studs as good or better than yours. You can rarely get by on talent alone when you play at the highest levels of youth football especially when you got to the playoffs or travel out of town to play. Your team has to be prepared to play in dogfights where they may have to play from behind or be matched up against far superior teams.

Many youth coaches that are now in their playoffs or traveling to National Tournaments are looking for edges, physical, emotional and mental edges. Traveling out of state to play games against unfamiliar teams can be very challenging mentally for your football team. Maybe you are from a primarily white suburban area and you are matched up with an all-black inner-city team or you play a team that outweighs your offensive line by over 60 pounds per player, it happens all the time in playoff and tournament games. If your kids don't have a lot of mental maturity, it's going to be very difficult for them to succeed in these type situations. Often when faced with this type of challenges, many youth players develop mysterious illnesses or injuries. In boxing terms we call this "looking for a soft place to land". Many of you youth coaches that have not gone to these tournaments would be surprised at how poorly some teams perform. Teams that have been bullies in their own leagues face adversity or a quality match-ups for the first time and fold like a cheap deck of cards. I'm speaking of teams that come in with amazing records, but get smacked in the mouth for the first time and crumble. But there are techniques you can use when coaching youth football, to prepare your team for these inevitable challenges.

I've found there is no last minute magic bullet or speech that can help your kids over this type of hump. There are some pre-game tips listed here on the blog that can help lessen some of the stress, see "Beating the Bully Team" entry. But helping your kids develop some mental toughness throughout the season is what's needed to tame this ghost. We try and create pressure situations during practice all year that will show our kids they can perform well under lots of pressure.

Some of the tactics we use:

20 Perfect Offensive Football Plays in a row. We run our offensive plays out on air. Our backs and pullers run everything out 20 yards, our linemen take their first two steps and freeze, then on a whistle sprint 20 yards to a designated spot for the next play. Needless to say the kids get pretty winded as I'm calling out both the plays and cadence to keep the pace very fast. Each play must be executed flawlessly for it to "count" and we don't quit until we get 20 perfect plays in a row. Perfect means the alignment and stances of all the players is perfect, each linemen has led and finished with his correct foot, each back has performed his responsibilities either blocking, faking or running perfectly and that we have 100% effort from everyone on the play. This includes the back-ups running with the group at full attention and effort. If one player breaks down, we start over again at 1.

The kids need to understand that this is an 11 player game and if one player fails his responsibility, our football plays will fail and then our team will fail. The kids need to be trained that every detail is important and non-negotiable. Peer pressure is a very important tool in youth football, the kids will police themselves in this drill, they don't want to have to run endless 20 yard sprints.

After a few start and stops, eventually the kids will embrace this drill as a challenge and look forward to it. Kids on our team actually ask for this drill, they like to see how many perfect plays they can do in a row, they want to set new records. After you've run this drill for 20 minutes in 90 degree heat there is no greater pressure than to be on play number 18, the kids don't want to start over again at 1. To add even more pressure to the situation, call a pass play on the 20th play. You never know when a game can come down to a very last second pass play that you have to make under huge pressure.

Another great way to build mental maturity is to Scrimmage against teams that are out of your league. There are multiple youth football leagues in our area and we try and develop relationships with teams in all of them. Set up mid-season scrimmages against teams that are the exact opposite of your team or the teams you typically face. If you are an inner-city team, scrimmage a rural or suburban team. If your league is a run dominated league, play a spread passing team. If your team is good but small, scrimmage a huge team or even a team that is an age bracket or classification higher. Doing this shows your kids you can play against anyone, the more extreme the differences, the better it is for your football team.

We also like to create pressure situations for our kids during practice. We will often wrap practice up by practicing field goals. In our youth football league the extra point kick is worth 2 points, the run or pass is just 1 point, hence the kicks are very important. If you play a team that can't kick extra points and your team can and you score a touchdown, you in essence have a 2 score lead if you can make your extra point kick. We put our field goal team on the practice field then put all the other kids on the team opposite them, they jump up and down, yell, scream etc to distract the kicker. After a few kicks we then tell the kicker if he makes the next kick, we get 10 minutes of "game time", if he misses we will run plays out 20 yards for the next 10 minutes. Obviously he's under a lot of pressure here, we may even add a player or two behind the line of scrimmage near the holder spot and have them yell at the kicker as well.

We do the same with some of our pass catching drills. We will line up our offensive formation right in front of where the parents are that have come to watch our football practice. We let the kids and parents know that if we complete the next pass, practice is over, if we don't complete it, we get 10 more minutes of team offense with 20 yard football plays being run out. Again we are creating pressure situations with positive and negative team consequences based on the results and effort of the team. We may even place 4-5 players at the catching point of this pass, having the kids yelling and waving their arms to distract the reciever to train him to handle pressure.

When doing team offensive reps on air in practice I often require that we get a play off every 20 seconds. I will call the cadence to set the pace and tempo. Getting everyone into position and running a perfect play every 20 seconds creates pressure, but also shows the kids they can run lots of plays quickly in time sensitive situations. Since we are always a no-huddle team, we are always in hurry-up mode.

While my teams over the last 7 years have rarely trailed in many games, we have had a number where we did and had to make a comeback. We often scored right before the half in time sensitive situations. This season my age 7-9 kids scored on the last play of the first half in 3 separate games and in the last minute of the half in 5 of 9 games. We all know that scoring right before the half is a back breaker in youth football. We did this by running a lot of plays in a small amount of time, our kids just didn't panic when the clock was winding down, they fully expected to score.

We have played out of league and out of state tournament games against much larger and more athletic competition. Our teams mental maturity is what helped us compete in these games. Don't neglect developing mental maturity with your kids especially if you expect to play in a big game or travel out of town to play in one of the many youth football tournaments out there.

For 150 free youth football practice tips from Dave or to sign up for his free newsletter: Football Plays

Dave Cisar-

Dave has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive. His teams have won over 94% of their games in 5 different leagues. He is a Nike "Coach of the Year" designate and his book has been endorsed by Tom Osborne.

Clips of his 2006 team in action: Youth Football Plays

Copyright 2007 Cisar Management and winningyouthfootball.com

Why Are College Football Authorities Against Playoffs?

As an avid college football fan, I have been wanting to address this issue for a while now. My question is this - why is there no post-season playoff in college football? There has been much speculation over the past few years that points to the eventual implementation of a playoff, but so far nothing has come to fruition. With so many reasons for a playoff, I simply can't fathom why college football authorities are so against playoffs. What reasons you ask? Well, here are just a few:

1. Every other sport in America does it. Why do you think that is? Because it makes sense! What playoffs provide that the current bowl-game program does not is a clear-cut winner. There is never any debate as to who deserves the title unlike in the BCS bowl series.

2. Sometimes the polls disagree over who should be in the title game. Currently, three polls are used to determine the championship match-up - the AP poll, the BCS poll and the Coaches poll. In the past, these polls have disagreed about rankings. If these supposed flawless, algorithm-run super computers can't decide on the top two teams, how are we supposed to know?

3. Scheduling - There are only 11 or 12 regular season games for each team during the college football season. This means that some of the best teams in the country simply don't have enough room in their schedule to play other great teams. If they don't ever play each other (like they would in a playoff), then there is no way to know who is the best aside from mere speculation.

4. Every year some team or another gets left out of the title race because of the limited number of teams (2) vying for the No. 1 spot. Last year, Boise State went 13-0, but were snubbed for a chance at the championship. Now, were they as good as Ohio State or Florida? Maybe, maybe not. But we can't know for sure. This is just one more reason why there should be a playoff - so teams with perfect records can square off against each other in order to find out who is really the best.

5. Last but not least, let's forget about being fair and giving all the deserving teams a shot at the championship. Why should there be a playoff? Because it would be the most exciting event of the year, that's why. Just think about the matchups - USC vs. Oklahoma, LSU vs. Wisconsin, Florida vs. West Virginia, and Texas vs. Michigan. Who wouldn't want to watch? I am on the verge of drooling just thinking about it.

To sum up, without a playoff we can never really know who is the best team in college football. We can know who is the better of two good teams, chosen by computers to compete in the championship game. But we can never know who is the outright best in the entire country.

On the other hand, there have been certain arguments against a playoff in the past. But as I see it, these arguments do not hold water anymore. First, it used to be true that the NCAA didn't want the season to go past January 1st. But seeing as how the bowl games go well into the first week of January, that argument can be thrown out the window. Second, college football authorities are worried that an extension of the season to accommodate a playoff would make the season too long, subjecting the players to an overly rough season. But even in a playoff system, only 4 teams would play more games than they do now. Furthermore, half of those would play only 1 more game. Come on!!! College football players, especially the ones who play for the best teams in the nation, can handle an extra game or two.

And here's the kicker - more games = more money.

I just don't see a downside. Implementing a playoff structure to college football would bring in more money for those involved and more attention to the game as a whole. Conversely, the changes (# of games and length of season) would hardly be noticeable. I think that college football does, in fact, have a playoff in the future. However, the powers that be need to hurry up and do it already. There are so many reasons for a playoff and none against it.

Nishan Wilde is VP of Sales at RobbinsSports.com, an online resource for Gym Bags and Portable Scoreboards

NFL Predictions 2008 - 2009

It's easy to pick the Giants, Cowboys, Patriots, or Colts. I am sure they won't all falter this year and some upcoming teams are ready to challenge. The NFL powerhouses are due for a fall. After all, the Giants had a second place division finish and made the predictable - unpredictable again. You have to love the chances of the Vikings, Saints, Bills, Browns, Jaguars, and Raiders. They will be the most improved teams who could challenge for it all.

2008 National Football Conference

NFC EAST

Dallas - Runs away from this division. Runs all the way to the Conference final. Romo falls for Vikings cheerleader who spikes Vikes Gatorade with Ex-Lax.

NY Giants - Sometimes everything falls into place. This year they will struggle to be a Wild Card and then it's all over for repeating.

Washington - Improved team, Enough to beat the Giants in the Wild Card game.

Philadelphia - Just don't have all the pieces in place.

NFC NORTH

Minnesota - Purple offensive monsters crush Dallas in the Conference final for a Super Bowl birth. Ex Lax makes them run faster.

Green Bay - Good all around strength but not good enough this year.

Detroit - How can a team go on and on without a quality quarterback?

Chicago - How can a team go on and on without a quality quarterback?

NFC SOUTH

New Orleans - Will be more consistent this year. Brees has a great year and defense picks it up a notch.

Carolina - Too much expectation and not consistent enough.

Tampa Bay - Boring. Boring. Boring.

Atlanta - Do they send the rejects here or are they created here?

NFC WEST

Seattle - Very well-rounded team. Could go all the way.

Arizona - Please change the name of the team to the Desert Rams.

St. Louis - Please change the name of the team to the Cardinals.

San Francisco - Please change the team.

2008 American Football Conference

AFC EAST

New England - Easy schedule poor training for playoffs. Bill Belichick is hung in effigy after Pats get bumped out by Jags.

Buffalo - Young defense gets monster-like. Will lose the Conference final to the Jags breaking the hearts of Buffalo fans again.

NY Jets - Not Brets fault but Farve gets carved with hapless Jets. Fans want everyone fired or executed.

Miami - The Tuna, the Dolphins, Ricky Williams. This is a very cheap version of a junior Cowboy team. Can somebody spell Q u a r t e r b a c k?

AFC NORTH

Cleveland - A year away from going all the way. They should watch old Browns black and white movies with Carlings Black Label commercials. Fake like they are hurt and kill guys like Jim Brown did.

Pittsburgh - Can look great - and then very average. Browns overtake them.

Cincinnati - Carson Palmer should demand a trade. Great talent on overrated team.

Baltimore - Locker room poison begins to flourish. Good team - no chemistry.

AFC SOUTH

Jacksonville - Defensive monsters go all the way to Conference Final.

Indianapolis - Not enough Marvin Harrison or Defense. Payton bring them back - next year.

Tennessee - Good team with ugly uniforms. Should watch old John Hadl Charger films. No passing - no playoffs.

Houston - Improved defense and team with very cool uniforms gets steadily better but not good enough yet.

AFC WEST

San Diego - Look for a little losing streak to start the finger pointing.

Oakland - Everyone will hate them. Except the Raider Nation. Now if they only had Lamonica.

Denver - Continues to dive. Jay Cutler would take Green Bay a long way but not this team.

Kansas City - Abner Haynes returns. These are not the Super Chiefs.

AFC - Jacksonville over Buffalo - as Bills miss controversial two point conversion to win it. Fans destroy Wilson stadium forcing the Bills to become the Toronto Maple Leafs.

NFC - Vikings over Cowboys - in a romp. Cowboys immediately trade Romo to the Dolphins for the Tuna. Jerry Jones gets face lift and now looks like Joan Rivers. Little Bum Phillips is elected coach of the year for putting up with more crap than any coach in history.

Super Bowl -Halftime show is Michael Phelps swimming 14 consecutive 200m swims across Tampa Stadium. Raiders Al Davis signs him as a tight end.

Tarvaris Jackson is injured as time winds down with the Jags up on the Vikes by 6. Gus Frerotte leads game ending drive as the Minnesota Vikings win the Super Bowl. Adrian Peterson gains 200 yds. with 3 TD's to become MVP.

Charles Priore