Breaking Contain

You may have heard about BreakingContain.Com.

If not, where have you been? Watching the Grammy's? I didn't but I'll tell you what happened: Lady Gaga was weird, Taylor Swift won everything. There were some rappers performing with rockers, some country guys and blues guys, a bunch of people you've never heard of and 7568 plugs for CBS shows nobody watches. Close? I thought so.

So quit watching lame TV and go to BreakingContain.com

Conference Championship Weekend

I enjoy the chase. I enjoy the hunt. I really enjoy the suspense of the build up. For this same reason, I freaking love the playoffs. Playoffs in any sport. In an average year, I'll watch a couple hours of baseball; 100% playoffs. The World Cup is just a big playoff. If you win, you keep going; if you lose, you go home. It's that simple.

The teams that play Sunday will have each played 18 NFL games this year (the Jets, 19). That's a alot of damn collisions, ice baths, athletic tape and adrenaline. Every one of those guys on every one of those teams wants to win a Super Bowl. But before that, they want to win a Conference Championship.

This weekend is the culmination of years of hard work. This is only the 2nd time in team history that the Saints have been this far in the playoffs. Give them credit; they've totally turned that franchise around. But this weekend they're going to run into the immortal arm of Favre. I've heard a lot of people say they want the Saints to win cause they're tired of Favre. If you read two posts ago, you know my position on that. If not, go read two posts ago. Vikings win.

On the other side, the Jets are on a tear. Rex Ryan exemplifies the leader-coach. They walked into the playoffs with the kind of swagger you can't teach. You also can't describe it; you just know it when you see it. However, they're about to run into a force as well. Everybody likes to rip on Manning. What's not to like. Who cares that he makes more money in a year than 100 season ticket holders? WHO CARES?! Peyton Manning understands football like no one else on Earth. The average football fan will never in his/her life see the field like Peyton Manning sees it. The Colts are a better team than the Jets. I'm not counting the Jets out, but the Colts are gonna win.

Enjoy the games this weekend. Get ready for a Manning Favre showdown.

Etc.

A couple quick thoughts on today's games:

1) The Jets are for real(?) Really? No, really. Where did this team come from? Don't they have a rookie playing quarterback? Don't they have a rookie head coach? No, really. Where did they come from?

I didn't see the game. I listened to it on AM radio in Indiana. It was actually half Jets v Chargers and half Hispanic jazz flute station. It was actually a great dichotomy.

I'm going to go ahead and give these guys the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure the Mothership will play this story to death twice by Tuesday, but it's still a good story.

2) Brett Favre is the greatest NFL quarterback of all time. If you watched his first touchdown pass in today's game you saw a ridiculous throw that only 2 or 3 other guys could make. Then you saw a 39 year old man fist pump like a kid on the Jersey Shore. You never have to wonder whether Brett Favre wants to win. You never have to wonder whether Brett Favre loves to play the game. I'm a Brett Favre fan and I'll be cheering for him next week. Witness history nation - Brett Favre is the greatest NFL quarterback of all time and after he wins another Super Bowl and Super Bowl MVP in a couple weeks, it'll be a lot harder for people to argue against that fact.

Playoffs?!

Watch football today - ain't much left.

Cardinals v. Saints - 3:30 CT Fox

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2009/matchup/_/teams/cardinals-saints

Ravens v. Colts - 7:15 CT CBS

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2009/matchup/_/teams/ravens-colts

One of my running theories recently has been that no one is actually a fan. Sure, fans exist. Over 100,000 people show up in Columbus on Saturdays to watch decent high school football. But the true FAN is a dying breed. My grandmother was a Braves fan and Fightin' Texas Aggie fan. She watched every game, knew every player (on a first name basis, of course) and knew every stat conceivable.

She passed her love of sports on to me but I, in no way, inherited her zealous loyalty to any particular team. In my closet right now, I have coaching shirts for three collegiate sports programs. That's not t-shirts - everybody's got t-shirts. That's approaching $200 worth of merch for three different schools. Now, in my defense, these teams almost never play each other and have no reason to have any animosity toward each other. I don't have a Florida and Georgia shirt hanging next to each other.

The point is this: sports, especially collegiate sports, have become totally bastardized. You've seen the "House Divided" bumper stickers. Who the hell actually let's one kid go to Texas Tech when the other is going to Texas - and why does that even deserve "House Divided" recognition. Nothing's divided; there's just a set of parents in that car who are worried about one kid coming home with only a 3.7 and worried about the other coming home with herpes.

So let's all commit to making the world a better place by declaring our allegiances and then standing by those allegiances without regard for our own well being or that of the people around us. That's called evolution, son.