A tale of two teams

What a game for the Patriots on Sunday. I almost felt bad for the Chargers, watching them give the game away in such painful fashion...until they started bitching about it like spoiled little children. Get over it. I love that they tried to accuse the Patriots of lacking class for making fun of a stupid sack dance that is absolutely classless in the first place. Merriman is a cheater and a punk and I'm glad that we got to shove it in his face a little bit. Meanwhile, Landanian Tomlinson is getting a pass on the whole thing because he is "a good guy" and "a class act." But is he really? Ladanian, you got beat. Get over it and get over yourself.

So we've got Pats-Colts again, and obviously the Patriots are going to win this one too. I feel a little bit bad for Peyton Mannning because the national media, and maybe even his own fans, are going to really crush the guy if he loses this week. This one should be another tight game, probably going down to the fourth quarter just like last week. I think that Brady will have a better game, the running game will be a little more successful, and the defense will do enough to contain the Colts offense, which just hasn't been as explosive lately. Pats win by six, sealing the game with an interception late in the fourth quarter.

As for the Super Bowl potential match ups, I'm torn. If the Pats were to lose then I definitely want the Saints to win. But if we do take care of business then I'd almost feel bad about having to beat New Orleans in the Super Bowl. We'd be the clear-cut villains in that scenario and it would be a little weird. So I almost hope that the Bears get in so we can just slap them around.

At the other end of the spectrum is the drama around the Arkansas Razorbacks, who lost their offensive coordinator and their freshman QB this week. It's absurd. Mitch Mustain was the best high school player in the country, a prospect so good that Arkansas wisely hired his old high school coach just to secure the guy. And the coach in question, Gus Malzahn, opened things up and finally gave Razorback fans something to get excited about. Mustain was 8-0 as a starter during the great run the Hogs had...and then somehow it all went wrong. Idiot head coach Houston Nutt benched Mustain and reigned in Malzahn's play-calling duties. WHY? I have no idea. Now Malzahn has bolted to Tulsa of all places, with Mustain probably following him out the door. I'm not really a Hogs fan yet but as somebody who has started to go to games and follow the team, this is simply tragic. Does this mean that 2007 will be a return to the completely predicatable offense that drove fans crazy before? My wife, a diehard Razorback fan, now hopes that everything falls apart next season just so the school will have to fire Nutt. It's a sad state of affairs but that might be the best thing that could happen. What a mess.

Pats-Bolts

The Patriots game on Sunday should be quite a matchup. All things considered, I think I feel as good about it as I possibly could when going on the road to face a #1 seed with a 14-2 record. Obviously the Chargers have a great team, as their roster is littered with Pro Bowl players on both sides of the ball, but the two reasons I think the Pats will pull it out give us a huge advantage: quarterback and coach. Brady's record clearly speaks for itself, while Phillip Rivers will be playing his first ever playoff game. Meanwhile Bill Belichick is the best head coach in the league, whereas Marty Schottenheimer has an all-time playoff record of 5-12 and hasn't won a big game in over a decade. I have faith that Belichick will find a defensive scheme to get the job done and that Brady will lead the offense to a solid win. Pats by 7.

Holiday leftovers

* Dad's famous baked stuffed shrimp for Christmas Eve dinner were maybe the best ever. He made two kinds, including one with some fancy (read: expensive) Italian bread crumbs. I thought they tasted a little better, but then again I doubt I could have told the difference in a blind taste test. Dessert was a ridiculously good peppermint-chocolate trifle that mom made.

* Christmas dinner: prime rib. Awesome.

* Christmas Day: great fun with the whole family.

Except we picked up some terrible head cold from the kids...which seems to happen a lot. It got worse the following weekend, when we went back up to Memphis and then on to Nashville for the Patriots-Titans game. The morning of the game I was so stuffed up that I literally couldn't sleep--a huge rarity for me--and ended up roaming the streets at 6 AM looking for anything that might help. I got some Sudafed and juice at a nearby Courtyard Marriot mini-store. Luckily I actually felt better at the game, which was a blast. We had seats in a very cool handicap accessible section which gave us extra leg room. Our entire row seemed to be Pats fans.

Back in Little Rock, we went to the doctor on Tuesday and Beth and I have been on antibiotics ever since. Usually when I get a bad cold it sucks for 3-4 days and then it's done but this one is just lingering. Today is the last day of the meds but I'm still not all the way healthy yet. More pills next week? Who knows.

I finally got a PS3...or at least I ordered one. I had to get it at Best Buy, thanks to generous family members that loaded me up with gift cards there for both my birthday and Christmas. I still haven't actually seen a 60 gig version in a store but they had them available to order at Best Buy on-line yesterday so mine should be here next week, probably on Tuesday. Game and Blu-Ray reviews to follow.

I think the Pats will handle the Jets well on Sunday. All they need to do is take away the short passing game and they should roll and I have complete confidence that Belichick will find a way to do so. I think Laurence Maroney is going to have a huge game too.

Beth and I powered through the final season of "Alias" on DVD during our joint sick time. She had actually seen them all already but I went in cold, only knowing that it was the final year. I found it odd that the creator of the show, JJ Abrams, seemingly had almost nothing to do with the last year, not even the final episode. I know he was busy off making MI:3, but still...do you think he just sat down and watched the finale on TV? I wonder what he thought? Kind of strange.

Good TV starts back up in January, including 24. This will be the first time that I watch a whole season on TV during its initial run. I don't know if I'll like that. This shows seems perfect for DVD, but I'll see how it goes.

That's about it from here. I hope everyone is doing well in the new year.