Click images for desktop size: "Spread Joy" by Unknown Had a hard time sleeping so I watched “We Are Marshall”. I like football films, even bad football films but this one was pretty disappointing. A shame really as this had the potential to be a fabulous football story that could have reminded and altered people's perceptions of the game.
The director should have his butt kicked daily until he learns how to tell a story. Matthew McHonicky should never be allowed to work again. He was a dreadful performer and so all over the place it was impossible for me to figure out what he thought he was trying to accomplish. Most of the time he was merely offensive. David Straitharn as the school President was brilliant and clearly seemed to be acting in another movie. Ian McShane reminded me that he was dead good in Deadwood and a travesty outside of that over written role.
The only time the film was effective was when it simply replayed the facts, which it did seldomly. In fact the most moving part of the film was at the end when they showed a 3 second clip of Brian Leftwich; the game where he played on a badly sprained ankle. Leftwich would make a play and then two line men would scoop him up and carry him down field to the huddle.
The school, the sport, the team and the memory of what will hopefully always be the worst tragedy in American Sports history, deserved better than this.

Christmas Eve and my two puppies are trying as hard as they can to behave themselves. It means they are underfoot but not knocking me down! Charles, another foster dog, arrives today. He's only here for a week or so while his real foster parents are on vacation. I hope he survives these two and I hope he is resilient enough to survive this new home.
He's an older dog whose owners had to give him up. No details there.
He'll make our Christmas better.

Last week was a new low. I went 6-10 . . . the bright spot was Brett Favre's performance and win on the road. Other than that it was surprisingly dreary. LaDainian Tomlinson proving he is the best was breath taking and raised even higher by the lack of stellar play surrounding his game.
My picks are in bold. Minnesota at Green Bay - Already won this Thursday night game. Had to figure that the Vikings had quit on the season.

Kansas City at Oakland - Another one already won. It's no fluke when a pro team beats another team 8 times in a row! Larry Johnson and the woeful Raiders made this an easy choice.

Baltimore at Pittsburgh - A game of the week contender. Its trendy right now to pick the Steelers and how hard it is to beat them in December. Yadda yadda yadda. The Ravens need the win to cinch the division and to shake the cobwebs out of their game. the Steelers are playing for next years contracts. I figure McNair will make the difference while the Ravens linebackers will show that Rothlesberger is not back.

New England at Jacksonville - And another game of the week contender. Both teams are slipping badly at exactly the wrong time of the year. The Jaguars and Jack Del Rio could destroy and disrupt the Patriots offense. The match ups all favor them. On the other side of the ball the Patriots defense out matches the Jag's offense. Low scoring and devastating hitting are the forecast here. I'm taking Tom Brady, who should be miffed about not making the Pro Bowl, over David Garrard who has 4% of his passes picked off!

Click images for desktop size: "Natural Doodle" by Anekdamian
Carolina at Atlanta - Funny. This game has cruddy potential all over it. Michael Vick is playing injured, Weinke at QB for the Panthers. Carolina has a mediocre coach and a team that has apparently quit on itself, which can make them dangerous in the second half. The Falcons have a coach who has proven he can be incredibly stupid and not control his players on the field. So this is the Who Cares match of the day.

Chicago at Detroit - Last week the lowly Buc's showed that the Bears cannot rely on their defense without its studs on the D-Line. As much as I like the Detroit roster this is still to big a hill for them to climb.

Indianapolis at Houston - Another game with great cruddy potential. Will the Colts play like they have shown they can? Or will they play down to their opponent. Either way Houston just plain stinks.

New Orleans at New York Giants - My game of the week. Michael Straithan is back for the Giants. Can Drew Brees get back his form that was so missing last week? Will reggie Bush delight the jaded New York fans? Can Eli Manning play a whole game instead of the up and down season he's had. On paper this is the Saints game to lose.

Tampa Bay at Cleveland - Cruddy game of the week. Move along. Nothing to see here.

Tennessee at Buffalo - The Titans are a bad team. The Billls are not. The Titans keep proving it is better to be lucky than good. Of course you have to keep yourself in a position to be this lucky.

Washington at St Louis - The Redskins played out of their skins last week in upsetting the Saints. It looked more like a one off than the start to something new. The Rams are playing out the string. They have a new coach so should be playing for next years contract.

Arizona at San Francisco - I really think the Cardinals could win this one. The 49'ers are without their best receiver but the Cardinals still have Denny Green on the side line doing his best to shatter his players confidence.

Cincinnati at Denver - The Bronco's won the first game for Jay Cutler last week. They're at home. But the Bengals NEED this one. Repeat. They need this one! They were embarrassed by the Colts last week. They have a lot to prove. A loss could keep them out of the playoffs. Game of the week runner up.

Click images for desktop size: "Colored Bottles"
San Diego at Seattle - Seattle is playing terrible football but still lead their division. The Chargers need a win to keep home field advantage through out the playoffs. Tomlinson gets to play against the man whose TD record he smashed. That's the most interesting part of the game. Will the Sea Hawks D try and protect the image of their own MVP?

Philadelphia at Dallas - A game of the week contender. Lost status with the Cowboys hype of, “The First Time Two Hispanic QB's Start An NFL Game”. TO will be fired up for real. Garcia has been playing as if his life depended on the win.

New York Jets at Miami - The Jets had their chance and blew it. The Dolphins had several chances and blew them all. So when two resistible objects met each other . . .

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