3-1 again last weekend for a 6-2 record so far in the playoffs. Made my two choices on Friday’s night radio show but here I’ll do it in writing.

Ravens at Patriots
PATRIOTS

If a teammate criticizes the Quarterback the week of the AFC/NFC Championship game that is a bad omen. That’s what happened to the Ravens. Ed Reed talking about Joe Flacco. Add to that they barely beat the Texans who were playing their 3rd string QB.

—
“I think Joe was kind of rattled a little bit,” Reed said.
“I think a couple times he needed to get rid of the ball. It just didn’t look like he had a hold on the offense.”
—

This is not a rookie QB either, 4th year in the league. Ravens have a strange history at that position. They won the SuperBowl and cut Trent Dilfer that summer, the guy who won the game. Only Super Bowl winner ever to cut the game winning quarterback. Needless to say they’ve never been back since.

Patriots beat a not-very-good QB against Denver. Now they get another one at home. I’d say easy pickings for New England.

Giants at 49ers
49ERS

Most signs point to NY winning. I have a feeling San Fran will pull it out at home though. NY beating Green Bay wasn’t much of an upset, I picked the Giants last week to do that. Didn’t pick the Niners.

This game is in San Francisco and this week it’s calling for rain and wind. Snow/cold you can deal with in football too a certain extent. Rain is a different matter.

Maybe one of the teams did what the Colts did before a playoff game on their Super Bowl season. Story from “America’s Game”, the NFL Network documentary series on Super Bowl champions.

They heard it might rain in Baltimore in their second playoff game, so Peyton Manning and the center Jeff Saturday did the wet ball drill. Dunk the balls in cold water the entire practice and spray Jeff’s hands with water as well. Saturday said he always hated doing it but in the long run it helped.

Was a forecast for rain in Miami during the week leading up to the big game.  Manning said in the episode something I’m sure a few players thought, “it never rains on Super Bowl Sunday, it hadn’t rained in 40 of them”. Except it did in Miami.

Bears had 5 turnovers that while Indy had 3. Colts win 29-17 with that last TD coming off an interception. In a close game that 2 extra turnovers were difference between winning and losing.

Put up a new episode of the podcast, a show from December. Suprisingly I still get downloads of that even though I hadn’t updated it in over a year.

http://saltwatermusic.libsyn.com

A bit out of date with it being before the holidays, but once any podcast is uploaded it becomes dated.  Enjoy the day of football.

Super Bowl storylines, 1 week early. Thought about the matchups and realized the stories we’ll be hearing throughout the leadup to any of the games. Might as well get a jump on it. When you watch one of the sports channels and see these stories pop up you will know them before they say it.

Patriots-Giants. Obviously this is the easiest one. Rematch of SuperBowl 41 where New York ended the Patriots undefeated season. So if that is the matchup expect 2 weeks of clips of that game over and over again.

Little side thing for the G-Men would be Eli Manning trying to get his second ring in Indianapolis. To win a second championship, in a town where Peyton played for years.

Giants-Ravens. Another SuperBowl rematch. I’m sure some readers off the top of their head forgot Baltimore-New York was the championship game in 2001. A final score of 34-7 and it was even worse than that.

“All 16 of the Giants possessions ended with punts or interceptions, with the exception of the last one which ended when time expired in the game.”

Only touchdown for NY was on a kickoff return.

Ray Lewis might be the only player for either team who is still on the Ravens or Giants. Storyline wise the simplest one is Ray Lewis going for another ring and Eli Manning/Tom Coughlin going for their second as a QB/Coach combo.

49ers-Ravens. By far, the one the media would have the easiest time with. John Harbaugh, coach of the Ravens. Jim Harbaugh, coach of the 49ers. 2 brothers against each other. They played each other this season on Thanksgiving Night, so they can grab the videos done for that week and recycle them quite easily. Piece of cake.

Patriots-49ers. Tom Brady grew up near San Francisco so naturally he was a 49ers fan. Favorite player was Joe Montana, who has 4 rings. Tom has 3 championships so he’d be playing the Niners to tie Joe Montana for 4. Sure they can get pictures of Brady as a kid in 49ers gear. When he was 4 years old he was at the 1981 NFC Championship game between San Fran and Dallas. Better known as the game with ‘The Catch’.

And your little known fact, Brady was drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1995. As a catcher. Witness to ‘The Catch’ and could’ve been a catcher. Maybe someone else will pick up on that if there is a 49ers-Pats Super Bowl.

And after next Sunday there is 2 weeks until the game in February.  Lot of time to fill.

Dealing with aftermath of Kingston Ice Storm 2012. When there are YouTube videos of people skating on parking lots, and streets you know it was a crazy day.

Onto this NFL weekend. Went 3-1 last week. Reading the blog again Sunday night I spend most of Steelers/Broncos talking about Pittsburgh’s injuries but wouldn’t pick Denver. Silly me.

Saints at 49ers
SAINTS

People talking about New Orleans playing on the road and outdoors. This is not traveling to Chicago for the NFC Championship Game a few years back. They’re going to California and forecast is a high of 16 C. No ice storm there. I see a lower scoring version of the Saints/Lions game last week. San Fran keeps it close but the Saints pull away in the end.

Broncos at Patriots
PATS

Pats opposite of Steelers last week in that they are getting healthy. Also this game is in New England not in Denver. Pats have played Denver before and beat them. Add to that having last week’s playoff game tape to watch. Seems like a bad combination for them.

Texans at Ravens
RAVENS

I really don’t want to pick Baltimore. Lost this season to Jaguars and Seahawks. Blown out against the Chargers. Even the first 2 weeks of the season shows what the team is like. Pound the Steelers 35-7 in Week 1. Follow that up by losing to the Titans 26-13.

The Ravens got a good match up though. Houston never in the playoffs before this season and for them I think last week’s win is as far as they go. They fed off their home crowd last week against an overwhelmed Bengals squad. Baltimore does have playoff experience which will get them through Sunday’s game.

Giants at Packers
GIANTS

Have to pick an upset somewhere. New York almost beat an undefeated Packers team earlier in the season. Now if they play like they did in the 1st quarter against Atlanta it might not turn out well. It was the “battle of the punts” and if they hold Green Bay’s offense at bay they have to score on their chances. Similar to Patriots/Giants SuperBowl.

Quick post since I am on a 1 day weekend this week.

Bengals at Texans
TEXANS

Bengals were 2-3 down the stretch which isn’t great. One of those games however was a 1 point loss to these same Texans.  Houston finally get into the playoffs and the Texans are limping in. 3 losses in a row. No wonder this is the early Saturday game. Get it out of the way.  I’m picking the Texans for no apparent reason. A good way to start the picks I know.

Lions at Saints
SAINTS

High scoring game with no defense inside the Superdome. I see Saints pulling out a win.  Not a lot of comments for this one.

Falcons at Giants
GIANTS

Atlanta going outdoors in New York doesn’t seem like a good scenario for the Falcons.  They do well at home but not on the road.

Steelers at Broncos
STEELERS

Big Ben still nowhere near 100% and there is the Ryan Clark situation. One of the more unique health stories I had heard about when it happened.

“Clark carries the sickle cell trait in his blood and when exposed to high altitude and reduced oxygen, this condition can become life-threatening. Clark learned this in 2007 when he last played in Denver. That game cost him his spleen and gallbladder, as well as a loss of 30 pounds and an end to his season. He thought he was going to die.”

Needless to say Ryan isn’t traveling to Colorado. Not being able to travel to a certain city because it would kill you is not something you hear often. I still think the Broncos don’t have enough to beat Pittsburgh.

Today is Stanley Cup Rematch between Boston and Vancouver. However almost not many people in North America will see it. In Canada you can only see it if you live on the West Coast and have Sportsnet Pacific. Even for those viewers it being a 10am Pacific start time is bad. When I saw a 1pm EST faceoff I thought it was for NBC. Wrong. Maybe NBC Sports Network [formerly Versus] was showing the game? No. It is stuck on NHL Network for our American friends. The NHL wonders why they are always the 4th place league in North America.

Happy New Year, writing this around 3am EST on January 1st.

San Francisco at St. Louis
49ERS

St. Louis approaching getting the 1st overall draft pick with the Colts waking up the last 2 weeks. Indy faces a horrible team in the Jaguars so it might happen. Back up team for the Niners should take care of the Rams.

Washington at Philadelphia
REDSKINS

Well, I’m a Redskins fan and I’m not that interested in this game either.

Detroit at Green Bay
PACKERS

Both teams have clinched the playoffs so don’t see much of a game. Since they can meet up in the post season not much reason for them to go all out.

Tennessee at Houston
TITANS

Houston not playing well the last few weeks, surprised they hadn’t fallen apart sooner with injuries to their quarterbacks. Titans could sneak in the playoffs, won’t be easy.

1) TEN win + CIN loss + NYJ win + OAK loss or tie
2) TEN win + CIN loss + NYJ win + DEN loss or tie
3) TEN win + CIN loss + NYJ loss or tie + OAK win + DEN win

Indianapolis at Jacksonville
COLTS

Sure it be better for Indy to lose, only problem is the Jags are worse.

N.Y. Jets at Miami
DOLPHINS

I watched Giants/Jets last week. What a weird game. Sloppy play from both sides.

Chicago at Minnesota
VIKINGS

They beat the Skins with Adrian Peterson tearing his ACL and having to go to Joe Webb as QB.

Buffalo at New England
PATS

Buffalo ended their long losing streak against the Broncos. Too little too late this year.

Carolina at New Orleans
PANTHERS

Drew Brees already has broken Dan Marino’s passing record so I can’t see him playing a full game.

Tampa Bay at Atlanta
FALCONS

Bucs stink.

Baltimore at Cincinnati
BENGALS

Bengals win and they are in. They have more to play for. They could lose and still get in if Jets and Raiders lose or Jets and Broncos losses.

Pittsburgh at Cleveland
STEELERS

Steelers could end up the Number 1 seed in the AFC by the end of Sunday. A win and have Ravens and Patriots lose.

Seattle at Arizona
SEAHAWKS

Neither team can get in.

Kansas City at Denver
CHIEFS

Denver’s easiest way is a victory. If Oakland loses they are in no matter what.

San Diego at Oakland
RAIDERS

Oakland has 2 routes to get in. AFC West Champs or Wild Card. Division championship needs an Oakland win and a Denver loss. Wild Card looks like this.

1) OAK win + CIN loss + TEN loss or tie
2) OAK win + CIN loss + NYJ win

Dallas at N.Y. Giants 8:30 pm NBC
GIANTS

The big game of the day. Primetime on NBC. And the easiest scenario. Giants win they are in the playoffs, lose they are not. Same thing for the Cowboys. If there is a tie [that be funny] then NY is in.

Full NFL slate on Saturday with Christmas Eve tomorrow. Have to rush through this, I did last week’s picks on Twitter. I thought the Colts would lose on Thursday, obviously.

Cleveland at Baltimore
RAVENS

Baltimore blown out by San Diego last week. Better wake up for the Browns since they are slipping down the AFC seeds. They lucked out with Houton losing and Pittsburgh losing in San Fran on Monday. Add to that the Steelers are sitting down Big Ben this week.

Minnesota at Washington
REDSKINS

After beating the Giants they should handle the Vikings.

Jacksonville at Tennessee
TITANS

Jacksonville has quit.

St. Louis at Pittsburgh
STEELERS

Without Ben but it’s still the Rams.

N.Y. Giants at N.Y. Jets
GIANTS

Coin flip.

Denver at Buffalo
BRONCOS

Will the Bills finally end their winning streak? Probably not.

Tampa Bay at Carolina
PANTHERS

Carolina looking good for next season.

Arizona at Cincinnati
CARDS

Arizona/Seattle are both 7-7 now. Quietly doing well.

Oakland at Kansas City
CHIEFS

After beating the Packers and still having a shot to win the division.

Miami at New England
PATS

Time to buzz through the rest of these picks.

San Diego at Detroit
CHARGERS

San Francisco at Seattle
49ERS

Philadelphia at Dallas
COWBOYS

Sunday Night, Chicago at Green Bay
PACKERS

Monday, Atlanta at New Orleans
SAINTS

Here is last Friday’s episode, few days late but internet problems at work this week.

http://www.archive.org/details/SaltWaterMusicDecember9th2011

“Open up with David Myles, Duane Andrews and The Once. New music from Ria Mae, The Penny Blacks, Andrea Simms Karp and Ian Foster. Holidays coming up and a brand new song for this time of year with ‘Christmas by the Sea’ by Stephanie Beaumont. Followed by Natalie McMaster who will be on the show next week. Some of the remastered ‘Fogarty’s Cove’ album by Stan Rogers. End the show with Allison Crowe who is in the midst of some Christmas concerts.”

On Twitter I’ve linked to the Sea and Be Scene website before but time to do a write up as well. Stephanie Beaumont started it last year and she had a YouTube channel for the videos and did start a podcast too. Best source to keep track of music on the East Coast as she has interviewed a lot of them. She’s based in Nova Scotia so a little bit easier than me in Ontario.

All my interviews have been phoners so far. Does lead to interesting behind the scenes things. Tim Baker from Hey Rosetta! did an interview on his cell phone while walking around Toronto on a day off during a tour. Air Traffic Control stopped at a gas station pay-phone somewhere in Quebec to give me a call as they were driving back from Ontario to Nova Scotia.

She describes the site : “We are an entertainment based, magazine style website designed to celebrate the 4 Atlantic Provinces. Our goal is to profile all the people, places and things that make Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island so very special.”

Sure readers will reconginze Stephanie from her music or TV work. When I lived in Ottawa Valley I was in a small place that had about 15 channels on cable. When some new stations popped up in mid 90s we somehow got Discovery Channel and a music one called NCN. Both those channels are still around, although anyone under 20 is wondering ‘What the heck was NCN?’. It stood for “New Country Network” which you know today as “CMT Canada”. We had no MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic or any other music station on this small cable system. So on Saturdays they had something called Rock N Country where they would play a mix of Country Videos, Rock and Pop. Being as it was my only source of music videos I watched pretty much every week. Could have a song from Stephanie, Hootie and the Blowfish and Bob Seger in the same set.

From a site on Cape Breton called ‘What’s Going On’.

—
Beaumont is an award winning country singer who had a string of hits on the Canadian country music charts from 1995 to 2000. Her two albums, Love And Dreams and Way Over My Heart, delivered nine Top 40 hits for the Nova Scotia singer.

She won the Outstanding New Female Artist Award at the RPM Big Country Awards in 1999 on the strength of her 1998 album Way Over My Heart. She also received nominations for The Rising Star Award and The Top Female Vocalist Award from the Canadian Country Music Association.

Although she hasn’t released any new music since 2000, she did join Cape Breton musician Aaron Lewis this year in a duet on his new album. Aaron says, “She has such a pure voice and strong delivery, I knew she was the one for the duet of Separate Lives on my new CD.”
—

She does have some new music which is at the end of this post.

Few years later got satellite TV and I had all these channels from across Canada. After years of barely having 15 I would watch a tonne of shows just to see what they were like. Watching an entertainment show in Alberta called ‘Wired’ and who pops up as host? Stephanie. Goes back to what I’ve said before Canadian Media is a smaller group than you would imagine.

She was popular during her time in Edmonton as evidence by a message board I found through Google. A thread was started about the women on TV news in Edmonton, or as they put it the “Hotties”. [Not the most serious topic I know] This was after she had left the station;

“ohhhh yes Stephanie Beaumont has to be the best!”

“Stephanie Beaumont is another young lady that I have met…. very attractive.”

Somewhere in Nova Scotia she is turning red. With Christmas coming up RED is a holiday colour. Did show she left an impression in Alberta. Her bio from http://seaandbescene.com

“I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, so I guess you could say that I’m biased – but I’ve found an awful lot of people who’ll back me up – you’ll find them here on Sea and be Scene – waving the ‘fun flag’ where the 4 Atlantic Provinces are concerned – and I’m meeting more every day…locals, CFA’s, tourists, you name it – they love living here, moving here, visiting here and they want to share the love – as do I.

I should tell you too – that I love what I do – creating and producing this site (together with family, friends, and one rockin’ website team) – is a dream come true. My career path through corporate marketing in Toronto, to singing on stages around the world, to broadcasting on TV and radio stations across the country has lead me back to the province of my birth and this web-site.

Sea and be Scene has allowed me to reunite with many friends I had met along the way and back in the day…and it will allow me the chance to meet new and wonderful folk in the future.

For a people person like me these are exciting times!”

She has a Christmas song out for the holidays which I’ll play this week on the show and over the next few shows leading up to Christmas. You can get it through iTunes or Amazon.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/christmas-by-the-sea/id482067402?i=482067408&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-By-The-Sea-Single/dp/B006BTBBWU/

Here is a post about all the people who helped with the song as well.

http://seaandbescene.com/2011/11/christmas-by-the-sea-with-love/

Finally the YouTube page with 260 videos and counting.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SeaAndBeScene

Tomorrow on the show, might have an interview.  If everything works out.  Last minute changes so it’s up in the air.  Tune it at 7pm EST tomorrow and find out.  The interview would be taped Friday afternoon so it will be down to the wire.

Shorter than usual, didn’t start writing till Sunday morning. Tomorrow a blog with a link to Friday’s episode.  Going to try and get that going again where I upload each week’s show.

Indianapolis at Baltimore
RAVENS

Winless Colts against the Ravens. Nuff said.

New England at Washington
PATRIOTS

Redskins defense holds up for a quarter or two but Pats will break through with an easy win. Like the Pats/Chiefs Monday night game from last month.

New Orleans at Tennessee
SAINTS

Saints on the road could be an issue depending on weather. Titans running game is finally back. Not enough to beat New Orleans.

Kansas City at N.Y. Jets
JETS

Jets on another ‘we need to win’ game. Especially since the Wildcard tiebreak is your AFC Record and the Jets are near the bottom in that. Loss to Denver a couple of weeks back hurt that.

Philadelphia at Miami
DOLPHINS

Eagles who are done, and Miami who have battled back after a horrible start.

Tampa Bay at Jacksonville
BUCS

Ugh.

Atlanta at Carolina
FALCONS

If Carolina’s defense was better I’d pick them here.

Houston at Cincinnati
TEXANS

Houston can win no matter who is their quarterback apparently.

Minnesota at Detroit
LIONS

I can see the Lions having some more stupid penalties. Not enough to pick the Vikings.

Chicago at Denver
BRONCOS

Bears can’t win with a bad QB.

San Francisco at Arizona
49ERS

Arizona beat the Cowboys, although Dallas really beat themselves. 49ers with another win.

Oakland at Green Bay
PACKERS

Undefeated streak to continue.

Buffalo at San Diego
CHARGERS

Bills playing better last couple of weeks yet keep losing.

Sunday Night, N.Y. Giants at Dallas
COWBOYS

I have no clue who will win this. Giants put up a good fight against Green Bay. But NY has still lost 4 in a row. Dallas had a great game against New England and 2 weeks later Philly beat them by 28 points.

Monday Night, St. Louis at Seattle
SEAHAWKS

One of the worst Monday Night games in a while.

After writing every day in November this one will go by quickly.

Tennessee at Buffalo
TITANS

Bills run during the first 6 weeks was fun. Long gone lately.

Indianapolis at New England
PATS

Patriots currently a 21 point favourite over Indy. If Brady played a whole game they could win by that much. However might as well put in the backups during the 2nd half.

Denver at Minnesota
BRONCOS

Denver’s defense and running game can beat the Vikings.

N.Y. Jets at Washington
JETS

Jets need this win again like last week. Might as well beat my Redskins.

Carolina at Tampa Bay
PANTHERS

Divsion rivals and even though Carolina has a horrible defense I’ll go with them.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
STEELERS

I saw the Steelers barely handle the Chiefs on Sunday night. However they did beat a bad team. Ravens keep dropping the ball on that this season.

Kansas City at Chicago
BEARS

Battle of QB’s who are starting because of injuries to the main guys. Which one will screw up less?

Atlanta at Houston
FALCONS

Mentioning injuries to QB’s, the Houston Texans. Matt Schaub is out so you go to the backup Leinart, who then breaks his collarbone. They might adjust in a week or two.

Oakland at Miami
RAIDERS

Dolphins were leading the Cowboys on Thanksgiving at the end. That was on the road, Miami just ended their long home losing streak.

Baltimore at Cleveland
RAVENS

I know Baltimore has laid some eggs this year against the likes of the Chiefs on Monday night and the Seahawks. If they can’t handle a bad division rival then they really have problems.

Green Bay at N.Y. Giants
PACKERS

Undefeated GB against a team that got spanked by the Saints.

Dallas at Arizona
COWBOYS

Might as well go with another Dallas win.

St. Louis at San Francisco
49ERS

This could be ugly.

Detroit at New Orleans 8 pm NBC
SAINTS

Detroit’s first NBC appearance since they got the Sunday Night package. So last time the Lions were on NBC would be the 1990′s.

Monday night, San Diego at Jacksonville
CHARGERS

San Diego, can’t beat a Denver team with a quarterback who can’t throw. And they had almost 15 minutes of overtime as well and couldn’t do it. Can Jaguars bounce back after firing the coach and the owner announcing he is selling the team? Maybe, I just can’t pick them.

The end of the NaBloPoMo with a blog post everday in November. I still don’t know how I wrote every day. Start off with the news involving a trip I should be making in April.

Things coming along as planned but with life you never know when something strange comes up. Just the last week in sports shows me that. The Houston Texans and their horrible luck. Never made the playoffs and on a roll this season. Starting QB goes down to injury. That is why you have a backup QB in Matt Leinart in case this happens. Who in his first game breaks his collarbone and is also out for the season. That’s almost comical bad luck. Going to the third string quarterback with playoffs a month away. I will cross my fingers that kind of luck doesn’t happen to me in the new year.

The trip would be going to ECMA Week in Moncton this coming April. Begins on Wednesday April 11th and wraps up with the East Coast Music Awards that Sunday night. How this came to be was an online survey of all things. After a couple of years of doing the show I joined the East Coast Music Association. Been able to vote on the awards and we got an email asking if we would partake in an online survey. I thought “of course”. There was something about a draw for a grand prize awarded to those of us who would fill it out. Honestly, I would have filled it out anyway. How often do you think you will really win a prize in a draw? If you are like me not often. So I filled it out and didn’t think about the prize aferwards.

Get an email a couple of months ago that I won it. Part of it was two compilation CD’s arrived at my door which I have played on the show. The other part of the prize is a Delegate Pass to ECMA Week in 2012. Which means I get into everything during ECMA Week. Should be a fun week. I’m thankful ECMA’s got moved from February to April last year. Makes it easier on people like me who will be traveling.

So in the New Year I should have a lot more updates as things get closer. Usual thing for today is NFL picks, just doing Thursday’s game in this post. Picking Seahawks over the Eagles, in a game most of you can skip.

Thus ends the month of blogging every single day. Can’t see many people checking in every single day but now you can go back and read the entire month’s worth of posts. Some long, some not so much.

Back in live on Friday night with the radio show, might be first live episode in almost a month. I will be in town over the holidays so expect new episodes the rest of the year. Which is only 5 episodes. 2012 is sneaking up on me.  Lot of new music on Friday since I’m backed up with things I’ve gotten in November.  Will make for some easy shows the next few weeks as I catch up.

Jaguars fire their coach and in the same day announce they are being sold to Illinois businessman Shahid Khan. Now they say right now the team will stay in Jacksonville. Which is lip service. Price will be between $750-800 Million. For a team that has to tarp off seats because fans aren’t buying them. Nobody in the long term think it’s going to stay there. Monday Night Football is there this week and they still need to sell 9000 tickets to avoid a blackout.

The city is a small market team so a guy from Illinois is going to pay $800 Million to be in a bad market? Nope.

Goes back to an earlier blog I wrote. They had a chance to draft Tim Tebow who played for Florida and was already a star in the area. They passed on him. Which I thought was dumb purely because he would sell tickets and merchandise right off the bat. I didn’t know if he’d be good or not but purely from a revenue standpoint it was the move to make.

Team kept this coach around way too long which was another sign of bad management. 9 years, no winning record in the last 4 seasons and Jack Del Rio fired 19 assistants in that time. Better known as ‘blaming others’.

As ProFootballTalk pointed out this same team put out a statement that the owner was not selling the team, this month! Don’t trust anything they say.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/30/when-it-comes-to-the-future-of-the-jaguars-believe-no/

By the end of this decade I expect the LA Jaguars to be around.  As people pointed out this was a strange place to expand to in the first place.  Remember at the time Baltimore did not have a team.  Now it could have worked out in Jacksonville, it just hasn’t. Time to move on.

NBA Lockout is over. 66 game season that kicks off on Christmas Day. At least they all came to their senses. Part of a season is much better than losing an entire year. Then you really lose fans. MLB strike in 1994 was the end for the Expos. They were battling for the best record in the majors that season and fanbase never recovered.

Not getting the NBA Broadband Pass like last season. Unless they make it very cheap. One bright spot in this economy would be incentives to bring fans back. I lived in Toronto in 2002 and never been to the Air Canada Centre. So if things work out I might make a quick trip to Toronto for a game. Raps are going to be bad so it’s more just being there and getting to see a game in person. Although last year they had a few games where they surprised teams. Close game vs the Lakers in LA. And beating the future NBA champion Mavericks in Dallas. As we’ve seen the NFL Lockout strange things happen when the off-season is royally messed up. ‘Dream Team’ Eagles being terrible and the Bengals looking to be in the playoffs with a rookie QB.

NBL Canada almost had a basketball team in Kingston but local council screwed that up. [See earlier blog posts in the summer for that story]

One interesting thing about the schedule. Unbalanced which means some will have harder schedule then others.  And every team will have at least one back-to-back-to-back and some teams might have three. Which is where I think I can maybe grab a cheap ticket.

When life gives you lemons make lemonade. When the Bruins got swept by the Flyers in 2010 I did that. I thought ‘I should search eBay for a Bruins jersey since not many Boston fans will be in the mood’. Got a Bobby Orr jersey for 40 bucks.  One that looks like the 1974 era team that no one had worn.

Good news is Eric Smith/Paul Jones will get to cover the Raptors again. They’ve been filling in on afternoons at FAN590 in Toronto until Sid Seixeiro and Tim Micallef come over from The Score. That is the worst kept secret in sports media today. Tim and Sid’s podcast ended at The Score, and their contracts ended. Tim stuck around to finish the OUA Football season. They’ll be coming over to FAN590 and most likely the TV side at Sportsnet as well in December. Yates Cup was the end of his time at the station as they did a video package on his leaving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a99AAZhoDM

If you saw the Yates Cup then you heard Tim sign off at the end and thank The Score for all the years he’s been there. Only drawback of going to Rogers is he won’t be doing the weekly OUA games. Sportsnet doesn’t have any football properties either.  Too bad.

Almost done this exercise in daily blog posts for the month.  I can see the finish line. Whew.

I wake up late on Sunday nights, around 10pm. First thing I check is NFL scores and how my fantasy team is doing. Even on Grey Cup Sunday. Didn’t know the BC Lions had won till I got to work. Roared back on Sunday with the NFL picks after a 1-2 Thanksgiving. I sit at 11-4 for the week. Only got Chargers/Redskins wrong. If I have time I should see what my record is for the season. Take some time to add up.

If I’m home and nothing else is on, I’ll watch a CFL game. Same goes for Arena Football or US College as well. Both have the same amount of connection to me. CFL is a sport where if they don’t get you at a young age I don’t see many people picking it up later. Live in a market where there is a good team then you will follow it since you have a rooting interest. If not, it’s hard to attach yourself to it.

Back when CIS was called the CIAU and living in New Brunswick [1988-1993] we had Mount Allison and Saint Mary’s representing the East Coast in the Vanier Cup. Huskies lost 3 Vanier Cups and Mount Allison lost another during that time. Which did give us a reason to watch those games.

Looking back a lot of it was timing. That era was me seeing Boston in 2 Stanley Cup Finals and the Blue Jays win 2 World Series along with those Vanier Cup trips for Atlantic Canadian teams. Not much room for another league in the summer months when I was watching the Blue Jays or Expos.

The 1991 season is when I really got into football. My Dad was overseas and I thought I’d keep track of his team the Redskins all season since he was going to miss the entire season. They end up winning the SuperBowl that year, a lot of luck involved in that. Followed the Redskins ever since, which hasn’t worked out lately. But at least I can recall that season.

Meanwhile I can’t think of a reason I would have watched the CFL at that time. Closest CFL team at that time was Ottawa. For those saying ‘Montreal’, sorry the Alouettes had just left the league. I did cheer for the Expos so as a Bruins fan I can separate Montreal teams.

Then even when I did move to a CFL Market in 1993 where did I land? Pembroke in the Ottawa Valley. I got the end of the Ottawa Rough Riders with the Gliebermans for example. What a debacle that was. And 93 was also the first year of the Sacramento Gold Miners. Oh yes, the US Expansion idea. Brilliant. Sacramento, Las Vegas, Birmingham, etc. Seeing what a joke the Rough Riders had become and a league that was going down a wrong path was possibly the worst situation possible. So I never became a fan.

My Mom doesn’t watch since there is no team on the East Coast. Last year when the Moncton game was coming up she asked me if they were putting a team out east yet. I said no, her response was “then I don’t care”. She’s honest.

You oversell the CFL as being ‘Canadian’ you will get that response. Canada doesn’t go further east than Montreal apparently?

If you want to watch Canadian football played by a vast majority of Canadian players then you should watch CIS Football. And it goes from West Coast to East Coast. A league that really does cover the country.

CFL US Expansion did have one team with a connection to me, Shreveport Pirates of all teams. My Grandmother has lived outside of Shreveport, Louisiana since the early 70s. Born and raised in Newfoundland. Did she ever go to a CFL game in town? No, of course not. She was a Saints fan and had no interest in the CFL. Maybe it is in Newfoundland genetics.

Saw a Tweet on the weekend that Tom Power, new host of CBC Radio 2 Morning, found on the weekend. He’s from St. John’s and sums it up for most of us from the province.

“In Newfoundland there is no such thing as watching the Grey Cup”.

Houston at Jacksonville
TEXANS

Houston has Matt Leinart as QB for the rest of the season. Might not be as bad a drop off as it could be. Houston defense playing well and they have a running game.

Carolina at Indianapolis
PANTHERS

Colts chance to get their only win of the season? Could be. I still see Carolina winning. Rookie QB’s can have bad weeks though. That is Indy’s hope.

Cleveland at Cincinnati
BENGALS

Browns are a bad team so easy pick here.

Minnesota at Atlanta
FALCONS

Atlanta needs a win to keep pace in the NFC. Minnesota is without Adrian Peterson as well this week.

Buffalo at N.Y. Jets
JETS

Jets really need to win this game to keep their playoff hopes alive. Bills have fallen apart.

Tampa Bay at Tennessee
TITANS

Not an ideal choice either way. Depends which version of these teams show up.

Arizona at St. Louis
CARDS

Cardinals doing better without Kevin Kolb, not a surprise. Said earlier in the season that was a horrible choice by Arizona to trade for him. He hadn’t started a lot of games.

Chicago at Oakland
RAIDERS

Another QB out with an injury, Cutler out for regular season at least.

Washington at Seattle
SEAHAWKS

Redskins put up a fight against Dallas and still lost.

Denver at San Diego
CHARGERS

The AFC West is bad all around.

New England at Philadelphia
PATS

Vince Young starting again for Philly. Patriots should handle them.

Pittsburgh at Kansas City
STEELERS

Chiefs on Monday night last week and Sunday night this week. This is time of year NBC could change the game but I think there wasn’t much to pick from. Best games scheduled were on Thanksgiving.

N.Y. Giants at New Orleans
SAINTS

New Orleans at home to squeak out a win over the G-Men.

That game ended up being quite entertaining. McMaster beat Laval in double overtime to win their first Vanier cup. Had to work tonight so saw most of the 2nd half and Overtime when I wasn’t doing things.

Mac took a 23-0 lead at the half and then Laval clawed their way back to take a 24-23 lead. Exchanged touchdowns [one with a 2 point convert] to have the game tied. The Mauraders had a last second FG to win but it failed. So they went to overtime. Which has a US College format. Each team gets the ball so it’s not ‘sudden death’ overtime rules. Both teams got a touchdown.

Next series Laval threw an interception. Mac marched down for a game winning field goal and this time kicker Tyler Crapigna nailed it for the school’s first Vanier Cup Championship. Make the final 41-38 McMaster in double OT.

And the NBA/NBAPA came to their senses overnight.  Hardly anything good comes across at 3am when I’m at work.  News of the earthquake in Japan comes to mind.  Yet, there I am at work and the news of a settlement came across Twitter at that hour.  Looks like they’ll try and get games starting on Christmas Day.  Which is really when fans start paying attention anyway.  You’d think this might teach them ‘why don’t we shorten the season and start it later’ but we know that will not happen.  Baseball way too many games to deal with, football at 16 is a perfect amount.  Hockey/Basketball at being over 80 a season is too much.  You could possibly see every game of your team in the NHL or NBA in a season, however it would be almost like ‘work’.  Do you really have to see game #39 of your team?  Probably not.