I would personally like to thank the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League, as well as the Airdrie Xtreme, for not scheduling any regular season games for this Sunday afternoon.
The NFL’s AFC and NFC Championship games are both on Jan. 22, and no offence to the Xtreme or its exciting brand of Bantam AAA hockey, but I would rather watch these two intriguing football games from the comfort of my couch.
As per usual, plenty of questions surround all four teams heading into NFL’s version of the final four or semifinal Sunday.
Actually, plenty of questions surround three of the four teams – there isn’t much to critique about the New England Patriots or ‘The Golden Boy’ Tom Brady after last week’s 45-10 smackdown of the Denver Broncos and Tim Tebow.
Take a knee.
The Pats will host the Baltimore Ravens (1 p.m. MST on Jan. 22) in the first game of the double-header. Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (with his awful fu Manchu moustache in tow) probably has the most to prove in this game, despite his team’s 20-13 over the Houston Texans last week.
He says he doesn’t get enough respect in the league, as Baltimore has been better known for its defensive prowess in the era of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.
Well, Joe, if you beat Tom Brady at Gillette Stadium to make the Super Bowl, and perhaps use the infrastructure’s corporate tie-in to remove the hair growth from three sides of your mouth, then just maybe the league and its fans will look at you in a different light.
In other is-this-guy-really-a-quarterback news, Alex Smith, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2005 draft, recently decided to actually play the position for the San Francisco 49ers.
Smith’s 28-run rushing touchdown with 2:18 remaining, followed by his 14-yard touchdown pass to Vernon Davis, officially established him as a legit QB and led his team to an improbable 36-32 win over the New Orleans Saints.
San Francisco will host New York (4:30 p.m. MST on Jan. 22), as the Giants pulled off its own unlikely 37-20 thrashing of the defending Super Bowl-champion Green Bay Packers.
I’m one of the many critics who has never really given Eli Manning his due credit as an elite quarterback, but the with the way he has been performing in the playoffs thus far, I may be changing my opinion.
OK, in reality, I won’t be changing my opinion, even if he wins his second Super Bowl on Feb. 5.
The Giants’ defence was the deciding factor over the Packers, as they stymied Aaron Rodgers, who didn’t receive (pun intended) much help from his wideouts, and Green Bay’s previously unstoppable offence.
But I don’t believe Peyton’s brother will even have the chance, however, as I’m taking the surging 49ers at home over the Giants and the Pats over the Ravens this weekend – from my couch, rather than from the lounge upstairs at the Ron Ebbesen Arena, with one eye on the hockey below and the other on the football games.
