FIRST, IMPORTANT BUSINESS: we received this important comment:
Rumpole says: Right now, before you do anything else, close the computer, go get your chequebook and go write a cheque and put it with your work for Monday so you don't forget it when you leave the house tomorrow. Nothing is more important than this. Sending even twenty dollars sends a message to the children of these officers far beyond the money...."we care and honor your father and mother far beyond what this money buys."
Please do it now.
CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY.
We wait all year for this. A great day of important football.
Mr. Markus takes the over 38 in the Steeler game. We will explain afterwards why he is mistaken (we don't want him to change his mind). But make no mistake about this: all is on the line- he wraps it up and a free dinner at Joes for him and his lovely wife if he wins today. Pressure is on.
Packers v. Da Bears: Hard to imagine this is the second meeting in the playoffs between these two storied franchises who have the longest rivalry in the NFL. They meet for only the second time in the playoffs in 70 years. To put it in prospective, the Steelers have played their division rivals in the playoffs many times (twice against the Ravens in the last three years, once against the Bengals in the last four years.).
Da Bears are getting 3.5 at home. A home dog in the NFC Championship Game??!!! How can you overlook that? Meet Jay Cutler. Bumbler. Stumbler. Can be great. Can be awful. Now compare him to the QB with the highest ever QB rating in the playoffs. The gambler in us says pick the Bears, forgo the points and take the money line. A hundred Ditkas on Da Bears gets you between 165-170 back. We may just do that when we speak to 52nd Street Irwin today, but for our purposes we take the Pack -3.5 for 500.
J...E...T..S...JETS JETS JETS!!!! Gang Green invades The Steel City for a great AFC Championship game.
But just like we told you last week in the Steeler game, it won't be close. Sorry big fella (Rex) but the train stops here. Great run. Amazing victory over the Cheaters for which that alone you deserve your own parade for getting in their heads and out coaching the biggest cheater of them all. BUT....
#1 defense. #1 fewest points given up. #1 Third down efficiency; #1 against the run (something crazy like 62 yds per game). The Steeler Defense is just superb. Add to that an explosive offensive; perhaps the best big game QB playing right now; speed burners in second year WR Mike Wallace and rookies Emanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown; experience in Hines Ward and Heath Miller. And don't forget a two time super bowl winning QB who engineered a last minute "school-boys-dream-of-this" 80 yard drive to win the Super Bowl two years ago. This is a championship team in its prime. All that adds up to a win in a big game.
Steelers -3 for 500 Polomalus in our contest against DOM for all the marbles!!!
What we considered:
Packers-Bears: The Packers could barely beat the Bears a few weeks ago when the Bears played a basic defense while the Packers needed a win. But Cutler is something like 1-4 against the Pack, plus he is most likely to implode while the Pack has the hottest QB in the game. The Bears started mediocre and are peaking at the right time, while the Pack has a minimal running game and is riding the arm of Rodgers. The Bears need to run and stop the pass and they can easily win this game. In the coaching matchup remember this- Bears coach Lovie Smith might well have been fired if he didn't get his team to this game. We like the Bears, but until Cutler shows us more in a big game.....
Jets-Steelers: Pretty Boy Sanchez hasn't thrown a ball in the air over 9 yards in the playoffs. That is bad news for the Jets except that the short passing game gives the Steelers fits in their pressure defense. Santonio Holmes can be a game changer as he was for years for the Steelers. The Jets were the last team to run against the Steelers for over 100 yards, but don't look for that to happen again. The Steelers will shut the run down, (they have always been able to stop LT-including the last time he was in Pittsburgh in the playoffs two years ago for the Chargers) take away the deep ball and challenge Sanchez not to make a mistake in the dink/dunk passing game. Special teams- they were the difference last time for the Jets (opening KO return for TD), don't look for the Steelers to make the same mistake today. Steeler TE Heath Miller- while the Jets won the last game, Steeler TE Matt Spath dropped 2 (count em-two) game winning TDS in the end zone in the last minute of the last game. The Jets will be motivated, but so will the Steelers. Coach Mike Tomlin has done a fantastic job getting his team to this point. Bringing them to 3-1 with their 3rd string QB and then getting his team on a 7-1 run after the blowout by the cheaters shows that Tomlin may well be the best coach in the game today. The Jets are the fun pick, the Steelers will get it done by 10-20 points as Sanchez makes a mistake in the 4th Q and the Steeler D blows the game open.
First half analysis- Jay Cutler is self destructing just as we feared- witness the late INT he just threw at the end of the first half after his Defense got him the ball with their own INT.
ReplyDeleteDude--you are American, not British. The word is check, check book...not cheque chequebook.
ReplyDeleteThe Captain Reports:
ReplyDeleteThis is how they sentence in Collier County ......
NAPLES —
Pawning a stolen laptop brought Terrick Maurice Crosby an easy $150 in September 2009.
On Thursday, Collier County Circuit Judge Frank Baker gave the 34-year-old something else — a 25-year prison sentence.
Crosby faced up to 30 years under the state's habitual offender law. His rap sheet dates back to 1994 in Miami-Dade County and includes robbery, grand theft, burglary, and resisting arrest with violence charges. He was released from prison in 2006 after serving time for violation of probation.
Under state law, someone convicted of two or more felonies qualifies as a habitual offender.
Authorities say Crosby stole a laptop from the Hodges University library in September 2009. He pawned the laptop the day it was stolen and later represented himself during a trial.
Cap Out ....
Two officers were murdered. It is tragic and awful. The lives of their friends and family have been shattered. Their children robbed.
ReplyDeleteHow is that so different from the many others who have died violently or senselessly in the past year? American soldiers are killed each day, but somehow the death of two police officers trumps all. We don't simply honor them as officers, we weep as though they were gods. Those who cry loudest are not so much mourners as sycophants.
Two St. Petersburg, FL police officers were shot dead today while trying to serve a warrant.
ReplyDeleteFour police officers in Detroit were shot in a police station by someone who was eventually killed.
Either more people are becoming unhinged or people think they score points for killing police officers.
Everyone loses when it becomes open season on police officers.
Re: Charity for Police Officers
ReplyDeletePlease send money only to a charity that you know will not skim $$$ off the top for referral fees and administrative expenses. Every time a cop gets killed in Florida, my office is inundated with calls from so called police charity groups looking for $$ for widows and orphans of the slain officer. A lot of this is bogus and the intended beneficiaries end up with pennies. it is not right. So make sure you know your money will end up in the right place. I give about $2000 a year to the police but have been told by other cops I am friendly with to be careful.
give the money if you can afford it and hope it goes to the right parties, the kids left behind. If you can't afford it, don't fret. Just say a prayer when you get home and hug your children and spouse. oh, and get some life insurance as I'm sure the county employees have.
ReplyDeleteThoughts and prayers go the St Pete too.
ReplyDelete