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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

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Aaron Rodgers And His Turtleneck Are Very Excited

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And now for your Wild Card Weekend box score w/words AND pictures.

Seattle Seahawks 41 New Orleans Saints 36

Beast Mode is back! I asked my buddy Casey, a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan, what he thought about Marshawn Lynch’s game breaking run against the Saints to which he responded, “why didn’t he ever do that for us”. (The city of Buffalo just can’t catch a break.) I’m no football expert but even a fool could see that the Saints secondary was going to have a hard time defending Bengie Molina legging out an infield single let alone trying to cover those Seattle receivers.

view of Qwest Field courtesy of @Scrubs24

New York Jets 17 Indianapolis Colts 16

Jets survive, thanks in part to Jim Caldwell and his ongoing love affair with the timeout. Peyton Manning’s reaction to the ill advised clock stoppage was priceless. New York now heads to New England to take on the Patriots next Sunday in what will be the rubber match between two division rivals. VMS contributor Dave, a Jets fan, believes the line should be Patriots (-42). Gotta love the optimism.

view of Lucas Oil Stadium courtesy of @janesports

Baltimore Ravens 30 Kansas City Chiefs 7

Clearly the Chiefs weren’t quite ready for their closeup.  I hadn’t seen KC play all year and therefore had no real idea what to expect when they took the field against the Ravens.  A few observations: 1) Todd Haley doesn’t inspire much confidence.  2) Jamaal Charles is a top 3 fantasy pick next season. 3) Was I right about Charlie Weis sandbagging the play calling?

view of Arrowhead Stadium courtesy of @chad_or_vez23

Green Bay 21 Philadelphia 16

Packers should be scoring more points. What’s missing? QB can make every throw. Running game is picking up positive yardage on most carries. Should we blame the coach?  Recently, fans have loved giving McCarthy a hard time for his poor clock management.  One thing is for certain, he’s no Jim Caldwell. Lastly, did anyone else catch Joe Buck making a fat joke about Andy Reid during the 4th quarter of the Fox telecast?

view of Lincoln Financial Field courtesy of @Aaron_Nagler

“Grab a Beer. Don’t Cost Nothing”

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So as it turns out, Qwest Field, and the Seattle Seahawks, have been doing what most fans have already assumed which is overcharging for alcohol at stadium concession stands.

I don’t have all that much sympathy for the fan who is spending $7.50 on a domestic beer.  At those prices you are getting what you deserve. Most people know that stadium beers are a rip-off to begin with which is why so many football fans tailgate/drink too much before heading into the stadium.

Here’s an idea, if you wanted to satisfy the fans demand for booze while at the same time cut down on public intoxication/drunk driving, why not charge LESS for a beer? Think about it like this, if I’m going to a football game and I know that the beer at the concessions stand costs me less money than at a package store, I am going to wait to buy until I get into the stadium.  I am also going to make sure to get to my seat nice and early, which has been a problem for a lot of NFL teams this season (see: NY Jets) who have kicked-off in front half empty stadiums, presumably because people are still out drinking in the parking lots.

So under this proposal, stadiums sell a higher volume of beer (because it’s cheaper) WHILE lowering the risk of drunk driving/other debaucherous parking lot behavior (because fans are no longer stuffing their cars full of Bud Light pounders).

Pie in the sky? Perhaps. But consumers are no longer going to allow themselves to be taken advantage of by stadium concessions. Or will they…

Share your views.

view of Coors Events Center courtesy of @Mediamum

NFL Playoff Picks: GoDaddy Please Go Away!

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Thankfully the NFL playoffs are upon us because I couldn’t take many more nights of the Under Armour High School All American Bowl.

SEATTLE (+10) over New Orleans: Strange things happen at Qwest Field (see Charlie Whitehurst leading team to division title last week). The home of the “12 Man” has a way of stirring the echoes of Seattle’s past.  When the great Walter Jones raises the flag before the game tomorrow, the crowd will respond and give their ‘hawks a distinct home field advantage.  New Orleans is the much better team, but they’re pretty banged up and 10 points is a lot of points for a road team to cover on the road in the playoffs.

New York Jets (+2.5) over INDIANAPOLIS: I fully expect the Jets to go into Indy and avenge their loss to the Colts in the 2010 AFC Championship game.  I watched some of Colts/Titans game last Sunday, a must win for Indy, and came away totally underwhelmed by the Colts.  Maybe if Peyton Manning hadn’t tried to kill Austin Collie a few weeks back I would feel better about the Colts chances Saturday evening. As a Patriot fan, getting rid of Indy, one of the two teams along with Baltimore who “matchup” well against New England, is just fine by me.

Baltimore (-3) over KANSAS CITY: Charlie Weis announcing that he’s leaving as the Chiefs OC to take over the same position for the Florida Gators next season has had an immediate impact on the way fans perceive the current situation in Kansas City.  How can his decision to leave NOT impact his ability to call plays? For all we know, during the game vs the Ravens Sunday afternoon he will be up in the booth diagramming screen option plays for the Gators big showdown with Alabama next fall (Roll Tide).

Green Bay (-2.5) over PHILADELPHIA: I swore I wasn’t going to be one of those people who jumped on the Packers late season bandwagon. But, Michael Vick is clearly hurt, and the Green Bay offense, led by the underrated(?) Aaron Rodgers, will put up a ton of points against an over-matched Philadelphia defense.  It’s also important to note that there is a chance of severe weather rolling through the northeast Friday night into Saturday which could very well cause Governor Ed Rendell to have an aneurysm as he reflects on all the pain and anguish that the Eagles/Vikings postponement caused him a few weeks back.

Share your views.

view of the GoDaddy.com Bowl courtesy of @bigdee163

Andrew Luck Will Not Be Drafted By Any of These Teams

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For the playoff edition of our NFL Rankings I have enlisted the help of my old college friend Finch. Finch is a huge New England fan whose love affair with the Pats goes all the way back to the days of Andre Tippett and Irving Fryar.  As a high school quarterback, he even wore a neckroll just like his childhood hero Steve Grogan.

view of the Orange Bowl courtesy of @RuleofTree

1. Patriots (14-2) VMS: If 2008 taught us Patriot fans anything it’s that we are one Bernard Pollard hit away from Brian Hoyer and that wouldn’t be good for anybody.

2. New Orleans Saints (11-5) Finch: A wild card team will represent the NFC in the Superbowl. WHO DAT!

3 Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) VMS: The 24/7 documentary on the Winter Classic was some kind of captivating television.  It’s such a good premise that I would even consider watching an HBO produced series on Stan Van Gundy.

4. Atlanta Falcons (13-3) Finch: The Dirty Birds three losses were to playoff teams.  That being said, Natty Ice, the cheap beer, wasn’t even that good when we were in college.

5. Baltimore Ravens (12-4) VMS: How is it possible that Ed Reed led the NFL in interceptions again this season?  Dude is like 40 years old and missed half the season due to injury. Must be something in the Chesapeake Bay water.

6. Indianapolis Colts (10-6) Finch: As long as Peyton Manning doesn’t try to kill another one of his receivers, this team could be very dangerous.  Plus, I can’t pick a Jay Cutler QB’d team.

7. Green Bay Packers (10-6) VMS: Aaron Rodgers seems like a real cool cat who probably has a smoking hot supermodel girlfriend, but man, does he sure have some huge nostrils.

8. Philadelphia Eagles (10-6) Finch: I guess Tucker Carlson won’t be selling any of his pets to Michael Vick.

9. New York Jets (11-5) VMS: Listening to Rex Ryan talk this week you would think that they have already won the Superbowl. Relax Rex and “go have a goddamn snack!”

10. Kansas City Chiefs (10-6) Finch: I still refuse to pick Jay Cutler and would have gone with KC earlier if their offensive coordinator wasn’t bolting to call plays in the SEC.

11. Chicago Bears (11-5) VMS: Are Jay Cutler and Phillip Rivers related? Can this be true?

12. New York Giants (10-6) Finch: Because I refuse to pick a 7-9 team. Hey, you gotta have some standards.

Share your views.

Admit It, Charlie Whitehurst Really Does Look Like Jesus Christ

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Now, to be clear, I’m not saying Charlie Whitehurst IS Jesus Christ but rather that the two share a similar coiffure. Also, to be fair, Jesus would have found a few more open receivers than Whitehurst did during the Seahawks triumphant 16-6 victory over the St. Louis Rams. Congrats to Seattle on clinching the NFC West and in the process becoming the worst NFL team EVER to make the playoffs.

There is a lot to like about Qwest Field, home of the Seahawks.  For starters, it’s the loudest stadium in the NFL.  The “12th man” is responsible for a minimum of two false start penalties a game.  It might be the one pro crowd that sounds and feels a lot like a big time college football stadium (think Autzen Stadium).

Whenever I watch a game from Seattle, all I can think about is Bo Jackson absolutely “truck sticking” Brian Bosworth on Monday Night Football. I was too young to remember the game myself but, to this day, my Dad swears it was one of the best individual performances he ever witnessed on MNF.  Seattle fans may disagree but honest football fans cannot dispute the pure brilliance of Bo.

So Qwest Field, speak up. Are you louder than a college crowd? Share your views.

view of Qwest Field courtesy of @GlobGlob