Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.  As I sit here trying to digest all of yesterday's food and am subjected to nonstop college football by my dad (just can't get excited about it or into it, sorry!), I decided the perfect way to subside some of my boredom would be to write a blog.  I don't really have anything specific I want to talk about, and I'm not going to make one of those stupid "Things I'm Thankful For" lists; I just need something to do.

This seems as good a time as any to make some random observations and the first is a question: If Alabama's nickname is the "Crimson" Tide, how come the shade of red they wear is more of a scarlet?  (Only bringing this up because my dad is currently watching Auburn-Alabama.)  And while I'm on the subject of uniforms, why did only three of the six teams wear throwback jerseys yesterday?  Granted, the Saints have had pretty much the same uniforms during their entire existence, so they get a little bit of a mulligan, but what about the other two?  I was all ready for the 80s-era Jets with the green helmets (although knowing them, they would've gone with the Titans uniforms they insist on wearing as their throwbacks for some reason) and the pre-tiger stripes Bengals with "BENGALS" written on those otherwise blank orange helmets.  But instead, I got nothing.  (It also kind of bothered me that the Patriots wore red and the Lions wore blue, but seeing as everything that New England does is annoying you can just add that to the list.)

Anyway, I digress.  The craziness that is this NFL season is about to enter the stretch run with a bunch of random good teams.  If the playoffs started today, Jacksonville would win the AFC South and the Colts wouldn't make it.  Of course, no one expects this to still be the case at the end of the season, but how did Jacksonville suddenly get good?  The one thing that is almost certain, though, is that the Colts will be stuck playing on Wild Card Weekend, where they'll have to play either the Jets/Patriots or Steelers/Ravens.  And while everyone gushes about how amazing Pretty Boy Brady and his stupid little team are, need I remind you that they're technically in second place right now because they lost to the Jets in Week 2.  Yes, the Jets have gotten lucky a number of times, but they're still both 9-2.  Of course, that'll change next week when they play in one of the better Monday Night matchups of the season.

Over in the NFC, who knows what's going on?  All we know is that somebody in the ridiculously crappy NFC West is going to end up hosting a playoff game at 8-8, while somebody's going to finish 10-6 and not get in.  As it stands, seven teams (the Eagles, Giants, Packers, Bears, Falcons, Saints and Bucs) are fighting for five spots.  Tampa's got the least staying power of the group, so let's just eliminate them now for the sake of argument.  This weekend will help actually clear this thing up a little bit, as FOX has a sweet doubleheader.  First, the two best teams (the Falcons and Packers) play at 1 in Atlanta in what should be the Sunday night game (not that I'm complaining about getting to see Peyton), then the Eagles play the Bears in the late game.  And over on CBS, the Giants need a win against the Jaguars, who I don't consider a first-place team.  Seeing as New Orleans already won this week, and the Bucs are in Baltimore, which you can just chalk up as a loss, there are going to be either three or four teams in the NFC at 8-3 or better (Atlanta will be 9-2 with a win), with the Eagles-Bears loser, Bucs, possibly Giants and possibly Packers all at 7-4. 

If the Packers, Bears and Giants all win, all three divisions will be tied.  Meanwhile, if the Chiefs beat the Seahawks, everybody in the NFC West will be below .500.  Yet one of those teams gets to host a playoff game.  I think the best-case scenario for the Giants will be finishing tied with the Bears, who they beat in Week 4.  With three division games left, both with the Redskins and the home game against the Eagles, who knows how the NFC East will shake out?  The Giants will probably need to win all three and have Philly lose to Dallas at least once (the Eagles and Cowboys haven't played yet either) to win the division, though.  My prediciton is that Chicago will join Tampa Bay on the sidelines in January, while the Saints go to Seattle and the Giants and Eagles play for the third time this season.  And people really need to start talking about Atlanta, who might be the best team in the NFC.

That's it today.  I'll continue enjoying my little mini-vacation from working while pretty much the entire rest of the athletic department staff is in Florida with the men's basketball team.  But I'm pissed off that I can't watch the Grey Cup this year.  The game's on NFL Network, which Cablevision doesn't get.  Since my original prediciton was way off, I'm going to take Saskatchewan to get revenge for last season's last-second loss and knock off Montreal for the title.