Bet Dreams

The Super Bowl is just over a week away, which means Vegas & offshore sportsbooks are lining up all sorts of bets for people to make.

Depending on the sites that you go on, you can bet on various things - from whether the coin toss will be heads or tails; who will score the first touchdown; whether the total score of the game will have more or less points than Michigan will score against Michigan State in college basketball.

I bet you a quarter that it'll be heads.

You can even bet on whether the total time of Kelly Clarkson's rendition of the National Anthem will be under about 93-94 seconds. You name it, you can bet it on some site or sports book.

Hell, as crazy as this sounds, you can even bet on the game itself if you have a strong feel on the Patriots or Giants or the total score. Of course this is said sarcastically - with how many prop bets there are to make in the game, it can be easy to forget that there is an actual game where a team will score at least 1 more point than another team.

Remember...this town wasn't built because people win money...

In my group of friends, I'd say a decent amount of us wager on sports. Some of us wager more than others. One thing is for certain - none of us are professionals at it.

I've been regularly gambling on sports for about 6 years, more than most of my friends. Even when I was a kid who raised himself on sports through ESPN & various periodicals, I had a good sense of what football lines would be. During my time betting, I've had the ups and downs (emotionally & monetarily) that goes with the territory of gambling. Admittedly, there were times where I definitely wasn't strong enough to handle the ups and downs. That's one thing I've gotten better at - the main reason why I've had better results.

As my social circle started to include more of the gambling types, some of my friends who didn't gamble started to show some intrigue into making bets themselves.

While I wish any of my friends the best of luck when it comes to betting on sports, I'll gladly provide an answer to any of my friends who are wondering if they should start gambling.

Don't.

Most people who I've known to start gambling on sports don't stop, with a few exceptions. It can get to be a very addictive thing. Bad losses are usually harder to deal with for people who are just starting. Everyone can handle a winning streak, but it takes a strong person to handle the losing.

That's when people start forcing bets, chasing losses, increasing amounts of their bets.

For those people who haven't started gambling on a website, you'd be better off continuing your enjoyment of these sports strictly on "being a fan" basis.

You'd think with how much you watch sports that you'd have a handle on gambling and winning money through it. Vegas loves that you think that way - that's how they make their money.

You can break a game down for hours and think there's no way the Saints are going to lose at San Fran. Much of this is likely on your perception of the Saints as you see how strong their offense has looked and how much you hear and read about them through various media outlets.

None the matter, your bet starts off horribly & despite a strong push to nearly cover the game, the losing writing is on the wall. Even with your time spent watching games all year (and likely your whole adult life), a lot of times your perception on what will happen versus what actually does happen ends up being way off.

So even if you think you know sports, that's not enough to succeed at gambling. Money management is crucial as well. Never gamble more than you can afford to lose. And never chase losses. If you barely have any money in your saving/checking accounts, odds are you shouldn't be gambling to begin with.

Also, if you can't stand losing money, even a fairly small bet, you shouldn't be gambling. Losing a buck or a 5 spot shouldn't be a worry. Don't get me wrong - no one loves losing money, but you have to be able to handle the losses. If losing even a small amount ruins your mood, you'd be better off using that money on a bag of chips or a slice of pizza. Where you can actually reap in the benefits of the money.

Walking Contradiction

A lot of this is "do as I say, not as I've done", because I've definitely had times where I wasn't mentally equipped to bet, nor should I have bet so much on games in an attempt to recoup losses (i.e. chase).

I know the urge for some people to start gambling is there, but I think you'd be better off enjoying it on your couch with your Sam Adams and bag of pretzels.

If you decide to, I can't stress enough starting on a small level & stick with a betting amount (win or lose).

As you watch the Super Bowl and think it'd be fun to bet on what color Gatorade the winning coach will have dumped on them, remember that these bets are lost more often than they are won.

Stick to watching the game & the over-hyped commercials (or Puppy Bowl, if you prefer). Leave the betting to the professionals.

Like me.

Yep....it lost.

Another Senator Letter About SOPA & Debating Masters

More political crap! Turn your head away if you don't want to read.

Just got this letter a week later from Sen. Durbin (woo hoo, 2 for 2 on Senator replies)...

This one wasn't as concise, especially about the money Durbin collected from lobbyists who were in support of the SOPA bill.

Durbin writes:

Dear Mr. Bolek:

Thank you for contacting me about the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). I appreciate hearing from you.

The bipartisan PIPA bill (S. 968) was introduced to rein in foreign-based websites that have no purpose other than to sell or distribute pirated or counterfeit goods. U.S. law enforcement agencies already have authority to seize and shut down domestic websites that are dedicated to violating copyright or counterfeiting laws, and hundreds of sites have been shut down in recent years. However, our law enforcement agencies lack effective tools to stop foreign-based websites that are dedicated to the same illegal behavior. These websites deprive American innovators and businesses of revenue and result in the loss of American jobs.

PIPA aims to close the gap in our laws that enables rogue websites to simply locate themselves overseas in order to avoid accountability for stealing American intellectual property and selling pirated and counterfeit goods to Americans.  The legislation would authorize the Justice Department to seek a court-ordered injunction against a foreign website if the court found the website to be dedicated to illegal piracy or counterfeiting.  If an injunction were issued by the court, it could be served upon third-party payment processors, advertising networks, search engines and other companies who would then be obligated to take reasonable steps to cease doing business with the infringing website. 

The drafters of this legislation tried to address the serious problem of foreign rogue websites in a way that respects due process, protects freedom of legislation, and preserves the vitality of the Internet.  However, I have heard from many constituents that PIPA and a more expansive bill introduced in the House of Representatives, SOPA, fail to strike the right balance between the goals of combating illegal piracy and protecting the Internet.  Both the House and

the Senate have postponed consideration of these bills in order to engage in more discussion with stakeholders and achieve more consensus on a legislative approach.  I support these efforts and hope that stakeholders can agree on a reasonable solution that addresses these important issues.

I will keep your concerns in mind as the Senate continues to consider these matters. Thank you again for contacting me. Please feel free to keep in touch.

Sincerely,

Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

RJD/bc

Looks like he still wants to support SOPA - and who could blame him with lobbyist money that comes his way?

I guess it feels good getting some feedback from my first political activities in forever. Still wish I never have to write these items.

Hopefully this keeping active thing will produce some positive results. Hopefully I'm not being delusional.

No Debate...

You watch a Republican debate this year - what do you see?

A couple of guys (Gingrich & Romney) basically stripping the other naked with accusations and calling the other on falsehoods, etc. The kind of thing you'd expect from two girls in high school who hate each other and start pulling each other's hair in the cafeteria.

Except the hair pullers in this case have an unusual habit that is often seen in politics but not with the high schoolers.

Once the fight is over, they unite and try fighting the bigger "bitch" in the room.

In this case, the bitch is Obama (although this isn't the point of my story to call him that). I find both parties to be equally repulsive and it's one reason why I have subscribed to either team's newsletter.

I didn't really start following primary season closely until 2008, when Hilary Clinton was thought by many to be the favorite to win the Democratic nomination. I remember hearing some publicity about a young senator from Illinois who was making some noise and threatening to win some of the early primaries.

Turns out, that guy not only won the early primaries, but also took the Democratic nomination for president. Along the way, his opponents (mainly Hilary but also John Edwards) critiqued anything and everything that they could about the man, especially about his inexperience.

No worries - the Senator from Illinois rolled with the punches and became the front-runner for the Democratic ticket. One would think with this harsh debating between the two that the nominee would have hard feelings about what happened.

Nope - this nominee (let's call him Bobama) goes on the campaign trail and has the person who was just critiquing him months ago campaigning for him. Lord knows Hilary doesn't want a Republican winning the ticket - so why not have the guy who she was basically calling inexperienced and unfit to lead become president?

He becomes president of course, and she becomes his secretary of state.

Enter 2012. The top Republicans are doing similar attacks, saying nearly the same things that Hilary & Obama (err, Bobama) were bickering about. These two seem like they'd never campaign for the other.

You'd be delusional to think that Romney wouldn't support Gingrich or vice versa when the presidential nominee is announced (my apologizes to Ron Paul, who doesn't look like he will win the nomination).

The same stuff that happened in 2008 will happen this year. The loser will support the winner by the time the Republican National Convention comes into play.

It'll be as if the mudslinging never happened. Only in politics.

No wonder why people are so disillusioned by the process.

To bring a sports metaphor into it, it'd be like a Bears fan actively rooting for the Packers after they lost to their hated rival in the playoffs. How could you do it? Only a fair-weather "Bears" fan would do that.

Not the same for politics. In this game, people who are Bears fans will root for Packers fans when their team is out. It makes no sense, but that's what it is.

I don't know how people can continually buy into this cycle on a 4-year basis or at least allow it to happen. I'm not even a political person and I see this coming a mile away.

I'd respect these politicians a lot more if they didn't support the people they just spent 3 months bashing across the nation.

Luckily for me, the words "respect" and "politicians" are far enough apart in the dictionary so they don't contaminate all the words in between.

Peyton's Place: Where the Hall-of-Fame Bound QB Could (and Won't) Go

Note: This blog is written under the assumption that Peyton will play another down in the NFL. There remains much speculation on whether he will be healthy enough to suit up again.

With about five weeks before the Colts have to pay Peyton Manning a roster bonus, this would be a good time to speculate on what teams may be in the running for him and which ones have no shot of signing the future Hall of Fame QB.

I figure Peyton would only go to a contending team to give him the best chance of getting at least one more ring before he retires, so I'll first break down the teams that he has no shot of going to - based on teams lacking talent or no need for a QB.

The numbers are not a ranking of chance/no chance of getting Peyton, rather just a counting device to make the total of teams easy to see.

Definitely Not Peyton's Places

1. Cleveland
2. Washington
3. Buffalo
4. Tampa Bay
5. Miami
6. Jacksonville
7. Seattle
8. Minnesota
9. Oakland
10. Kansas City

Thoughts: Assuming some of these organizations are willing to part ways with their current QBs for Peyton, I don't see him going to any of these teams. Out of these teams, I'd say Miami may be the most intriguing. Buffalo & Kansas City may fall into the category below more, but even then, Peyton wouldn't go here.

Oakland could be close to making the playoffs, especially in a bad division, but seems like their hands are tied to Carson Palmer for 2012.

Ponder may fall into the title of Franchise QB being a first round pick and all, but Minnesota would push him aside if there was even the slightest chance of getting Peyton (which there isn't).


Teams w/ Franchise QBs

1. Green Bay
2. Detroit
3. Philadelphia
4. Dallas
5. NY Giants
6. St. Louis
7. New England
8. Pittsburgh
9. San Diego
10. Carolina
11. New Orleans
12. Atlanta
13. Cincinnati
14. Houston
15. Chicago

Thoughts: None of these teams would consider Peyton given their current QB's stability. You could argue that Bradford isn't a franchise QB, but he's paid like one. Injuries prevented him from having a chance to build on his stellar rookie campaign. The new coaching staff could add Justin Blackmon to complement Brandon Lloyd, who is a free agent but appears interested in resigning with the Rams.

Bears aside: I suppose Cutler falls into the franchise QB conversation. It's probably the organization he is in that makes me think his ceiling isn't as high as it could be. The Bears don't exactly have the best track record of developing quarterbacks. Now that Lovie says he wants the team to go to a run-first approach despite everything in the NFL favoring elite QBs, not to mention the Bears' lack of talented WRs, Cutler will likely be even more limited. Even if you don't consider Cutler a franchise QB, Manning may not want to go to Chicago with this coaching staff's mentality in place.

Contender Unlikely to Consider Peyton

1. Baltimore

Thoughts: Flacco's performance in the AFC Championship (and winning at least a game in the playoffs in each of his first four seasons) may be enough for Baltimore to keep him. His numbers, however, tell me that he is not elite and that the team was often winning in spite of him, not because.

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That leaves 6 teams that Manning may line up under center in 2012. Once again, in no particular order...

Contenders (or Potential Contenders) Who May Not Be Sold On Current QB

1. San Francisco
2. New York Jets
3. Tennessee
4. Denver

Thoughts: There's not too many teams who are Super Bowl contenders that don't already have a franchise QB in place. That tells you something on how hard it is to win in this league without one.

San Fran would seem ideal, especially seeing how close they were to the Super Bowl this year. I see the Niners more than likely resigning Alex Smith to a 1- or 2-year deal. I put their chances of signing him at minimal.

The Jets desperately need a leader who will get the veteran's attention in the locker room (I'm figuratively looking at you, Santonio Holmes) and get the most out of this squad. I don't think the team (and especially the fan base) is buying Mark Sanchez long-term. Manning wouldn't allow this crap to continue and would bring a competitive edge that was missing from the 2011 squad. There may be other issues that the Jets want to take care of first, but they wouldn't mind winning the NY tabloid battle by signing the aging slinger.

Not sure the Colts would release Peyton if they knew he'd want to go to Tennessee. Imagine the Colts facing him twice a year, a la Favre vs. Green Bay those two years. University of Tennessee is where he went to college - no clue if that appeals to him or not, but something to keep in mind. They drafted Jake Locker in the first round last year, but I'm not convinced they'd avoid Peyton if he showed interest in joining the Titans, who finished just outside of the playoffs this year. Kenny Britt would become a Pro-Bowler if Manning comes into town. The play action possibilities with Chris Johnson in the backfield would be awesome to see.

Denver seems to be the most intriguing. While it would be hard for Elway to remove Jesus Christ from the starting lineup based on his cultish popularity, I do believe that the Broncos have a few talented guys that Peyton could work with and make better. Demaryius Thomas & Eric Decker would be giving Peyton better WRs to work with than New England (remember, Gronk & Hernandez are TEs). Argue Welker all you want, but Brady has made Welker's career - as a Dolphin, Welker was a middle-of-the-road option in a failing offense - now, a Pro Bowler.

I don't buy into Tebowites saying Tebow had no one to throw to. When your completion percentage is less than 50% in a 60% league, the world's best receivers wouldn't be able to bail you out. Manning has made stars out of less-talented players before (see: Jacob Tamme, Brandon Stokley).

Down the stretch, the Broncos' defense played well and was the main reason for the team winning 7 of 11 games with Tebow behind center. The real question to answer: Would Denver's fanbase accept Peyton as the team's QB at the expense of Tebow? Fans shouldn't decide who the starting QB is, but his overwhelming popularity may be hard for the team to bench him - Hall of Fame QB be damned. If there is one team president that could get away with making this move though, it is John Elway.

Wild Cards for Peyton

1. Arizona
2. Indianapolis

Thoughts: Arizona has so much money committed to Kevin Kolb, but his stint at QB was hardly memorable. Hell, John Skelton played better than him at times in 2011. I put them in my Wild Card category because I do think they showed some talent down the stretch, and I can't help but think of what Kurt Warner did when he came in and revived a dead franchise that was floundering with Matt Leinart behind center. Imagine two of the most driven & studious players together on one team - Peyton to Fitzgerald could be magic.

Weird to consider Indianapolis as a sleeper seeing as though he's still under contract with them. Maybe I'm already buying into him being gone with all the change that has taken place in Indy and how they are in a rebuilding phase and consider it a long-shot that he'd stick around. I don't see Manning wanting to stay around - even as a starter - when Andrew Luck is drafted. The speculation of when Luck would be starting if the Colts start the 2012 poorly is probably something Manning wouldn't care to deal with at this stage of his career. Besides, I think the Colts are far from contending for a Super Bowl in the near future (the main reason he'd leave).


If I had to guess....

I see the Jets as the likely candidate to snag up Peyton. Rex Ryan could make Super Bowl predictions with more gusto if they get him under center. The Jets still need to make other moves to solidify their offense (and still have a void at the offensive coordinator position).

Mark Sanchez might be better served to start fresh somewhere else. The scrutiny that he has faced from media, fans and teammates despite all of his fourth quarter comebacks tells me that a QB switch is looming.

Either way, I don't think we'll have to wait till the draft or later to find out if Peyton will remain a Colt. Smart money says he will either retire or go to another team.

49ers 86'ed: The Numb(ers) Game

You got to lose to know how to win - Steven Tyler

Figured it would be a good quote to lead with for several reasons, not sure if the less or more obvious of which is the American Idol that featured the singer as a judge moments after the NFC championship game ended.

I'm not really sure how much I buy into the quote. I do think it helps a little to be experienced to know what it takes to become a better team and win a championship.

On the other hand, the fact that there were 10 different NFC teams in a row to win the NFC Championship shows that sometimes experience couldn't have meant a whole lot. The Rams didn't need it back in 2000; Giants didn't need it in 2008. I'm sure there's some examples where experience may have meant something.

You can't tell me experience won the game for the Giants this time around. I don't think them being in this position 4 years ago helped them out at all now. Although I don't think it hurt them.

The Killers

Alex Smith did revert somewhat back to the old version of himself - prime example on why he should not receive more than a year extension. He one-hopped too many throws and highlighted one of the Niners' many problems this year - third down conversions. The Niners' 1-of-13 on third down is what killed them.

The Kyle Williams' fumbles were terrible, particularly the last one, which caused me to fall face first onto the floor and bury my head like a groundhog. In fact, the shadow afterwards that I saw signified that we would have 6 more hours of spring this month immediately.

However, I can't get mad at him for too long- as shocking as that is to hear. Ted Ginn Jr.'s injury could be the biggest injury that affected the playoffs west of the Chicago Lakefront. Williams was put in a tough spot as a backup and showed you how special your special teams need to be to win (or at least not lose) a game.

It would have been easier for me to deal with if Eli did what he did against the Patriots in the Super Bowl. At least I would have felt that the Giants earned the win more.

I really wish that the refs didn't blow the whistle on the Bradshaw fumble in the 4th, instead ruling forward progress. I don't care what Mike Perrara (I'm not in the mood to spell check, pretty sure this spelling is wrong, screw him) said - 95% of the time, that is called a fumble.

With that not called, we have to move on. No excuses. Just venting on something that would normally be called a fumble.

The Niners had their chances to win and didn't capitalize. The Giants made more plays and took advantage of both huge mistakes that Kyle Williams made.

Mr. Brightside

(Music fans - hope you like the sub-headers I created here. If not, well, shit.)

On the bright side, there's no way in the world you could have convinced me before the season started that my team would be playing in the overtime of the NFC Championship game, on the brink of the franchise's 6th Super Bowl.

All (not some) of the credit goes to the coach-of-the-year Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh took an arguably  underachieving squad from 2010 who finished 6-10 with Mike "The Mooner" Singletary as coach into an overachieving squad that could have very easily been one of the two teams to play February football.

With Harbaugh firmly entrenched as the coach for the next couple years, I believe that the Niners will remain competitive and be a threat to make the playoffs every year. I do think the NFC West is an improving division, so winning it will be more of a challenge in future years than it may have appeared this year.

Next year, we have the NFC North, AFC East & the Saints and Giants on our schedule in addition to the normal division schedule. Things change year to year, so it's hard to say if this will be a difficult schedule.

I think it will. I see a 9-7, 10-6 year if we have Alex Smith starting again, which may be good enough to squeeze out the NFC West again, but more likely as a 3 or 4 seed this time around.

I hope Kaepernick is given the chance to compete for the starting spot next year. I also hope we are able to snag a go-to wide receiver either in free agency or some kind of draft-day trade - Crabtree is not the answer.

No Excuses

I am not one of those people who will sit there and blame the refs for the loss. Most fans of most teams who lose in spots like this (close game in OT) will like to highlight some BS calls that go against their team. Not this guy.

The Giants earned the win. Eli is a tough QB who has nothing left to prove on whether he is an elite QB (he is).

A guy who set the QB record for road wins in the playoffs cannot be a slouch. Sure, you need good people around you, but you also need to have an incredible amount of talent to put your team in that position.

Winning on the road in the NFL is tough, no matter where you go. I'm not convinced this team would have beat the Saints in the NFC Championship with the home advantage the Saints have, but the Niners' comeback win took that away from the Saints.

I wish the Giants the best of luck in two weeks - they are going to need it.

I see the line is around New England -4 with an over/under at about 55.5. Both of those seem too high on initial read, and I heavily lean on a more defensive battle - kinda like the ones the teams played in their wins today. A field goal could be the difference in this game as it has in all of the other Patriots' Super Bowls after Super Bowl XX.

Last Train Out

This is officially my last NFL blog of 2011-12 w/ having a horse in the race.

Thank you to my friends who rooted for the Niners from afar - showed great class as your team's hopes went down either with the injury of Jay Cutler or one too many blown 4th quarter leads (damn Bears/Cowboys). I know I am missing a few teams from my friend's rooting interests, but you get the point.

One game remains - unfortunately San Fran will not be represented.

Made up my mind, gonna make a new start...Going to California with an aching...in my heart.

Thanks for that lyric Zeppelin...and thanks for this season Niners.

Let's do what we can to make it happen next year.

It's important to keep perspective as a sports fan and realize that sports are a fantastic distraction in our lives yet at the same time can seem like the only thing in our lives.

I still got a great girlfriend, great family and great friends.

Remember that the next time your team fails you. Perspective.

Goals/Bucket List Re-analyzed

A nice and easy blog - gonna look at my goals through the first 20 days of the year

1. 100+ blogs - this will be blog 10 in the 20th day of the year. While I don't think I'll be able to keep with a blog every other day pace, it looks like I will be more consistent than last year in posting blogs. Keep with the feedback and I'll keep with the writing.
2. 3000 Tweets & Gain 50 Followers (Go over 100) - I started the year with 1022 tweets and 58 followers; currently at 1222 and 75 (although some of these followers may disappear since they appear to be fake accounts). I'm at 10 tweets/day, so I'd beat my year goal by 2 months. The followers stat may be deceiving, but hopefully I'll continue to get some legit followers.
3. Get a Mac Computer & Become Solid at Final Cut Pro again - working on this - the time of the year I get this depends on the Niners making the Super Bowl
4. Listen to all 4500+ songs on my I-Pod at some point this year - I'm through 440 songs in 20 days (22 songs a day). At this pace, I'd finish my playlist in July. With how often I drive to and from the city these days, it's very possible I get this done before the summer ends.
5. Learn to design a website - looks to be an end of year goal.
6. Keep getting better/more knowledgeable about sports gambling - work in progress

Updated bucket list

1. Baseball Road Trip (Achieved)
2. Watch the Final Game of a Sport (Achieved)
3. Attending NFL Playoff Game (Achieved) - And what an achievement it was. Best. Game. Ever.
4. Attend MLB Playoff Game (Achieved)
5. Yankees/Red Sox
6. Duke/North Carolina (NCAAB)
7. Packers/Bears (not achieved) - working on these. Would like to hit up at least one of these 3 by the end of the year.
8. Big Ten football stadium outside of Illinois (likely Mich vs. OSU) (not achieved) - work in progress
9. SEC football (LSU, Bama or Florida) (not achieved) - work in progress; doubt I'll get to this in 2012.
10. The first weekend of March Madness...
11. and the Super Bowl....in Vegas (not achieved) - goal is to get one of these achieved in 2013.
12. The Super Bowl (not achieved) - this may be the surprise item that gets eliminated first. I got some great news from the boss about a bonus that could cover most of the costs for this. My dad/mom say I should use the money for student loans, but I've been responsible enough with money for so long, it's gonna happen if the Niners make it there. I've already talked myself into this.

So far, I'd say my goals/bucket list are progressing nicely. I hope your goals are going just as well. Hopefully you've set some reasonable ones that you can reach.

Thanks for reading once again.

Final Four, NFL-Style

My favorite Sunday of the sports year is in sight, with the day becoming even more special because of the 49ers first appearance in the NFC Championship since 1998, when they lost to the Packers 23-10.

As my fellow Conference Championship watchers Nick Pazoles and Chris Williams have both said as well, this weekend is our favorite weekend of sports because it usually has two very competitive games featuring high quality teams. This stands to reason that you have to be really good to make it this far, but the NFL always seems to find itself locked into tight battles come their version of the Final Four.

In the last 4 years, the NFC Championship has featured competitive games in all 4 tilts, including a pair of overtime games. These 4 games were all decided by a touchdown or less. On the AFC side of things in that time span, the games have had slightly larger deficits but were no means blow outs.

AFC Championship

Baltimore +7 at New England - Fresh off of its first playoff win since the 2008 AFC title game, New England enters the playoffs on a 9 game win streak. Tom Brady has been his usual self in tearing apart opposing defenses. His 6 touchdown passes last week made quite the statement against the NFL's most polarizing player/team in the Denver Tebows. Meanwhile, on Baltimore's side of things, much of the talk this week has been about internal critiques of their QB Joe Flacco by future Canton member Ed Reed. While I think much of this talk leading up to games is garbage, no need for this small distraction.

I think this will be lower-scoring than what New England will be accustomed to, but they will still prevail. Baltimore covers, New England wins a tight one 24-20.

NFC Championship

NYG +2.5 at San Fran - When New England wraps up their game, much of the post-game talk on CBS and pre-game talk on Fox will be, "Is there going to be a rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl?" My answer, if predictions have anything to say about them, is No.

If you've been watching or reading anything ESPN-related, you'd think the Giants would be the favorites. Not sure how much of this has to do with a well-perceived East-Coast bias that many people complain about, but it is quite noticeable how much the Giants are being talked up despite having lost to the Niners earlier this year and their inconsistency/lapses during the season - which saw them beat some of the NFL's best as road warriors (Patriots, Packers) while losing to inferior opponents like the Redskins (twice) & Seahawks.

I took a look at some highly public sites (ESPN, CBS Sports, Fox, Covers...to name a few) & one local prediction from each town's newspaper area and compiled 38 different analyst's picks for the NFC Championship game. A whopping 27 of 38 picked the Giants to win.

It's weird that a 14-3 team who just ended a 9-game winning streak of a well-regarded foe can feel like an underdog, but here the Niners are....again. I have no problem with this perception from the public that the Giants will come out victorious.

In fact, recent history shows that one of the road teams should win - 9 of this century's 12 Super Bowls have featured at least one team who won on the road in the Conference Championship weekend. If a road team is going to win this weekend, chances are it will be the Giants.

I'll go against this trend and say that the Niners win a battle that will be highly dictated on the play of their special teams. The Pro Bowl duo of Akers & Andy Lee will provide the Niners with the points/field position that they will need, as San Fran will ride to its sixth Super Bowl appearance.

Niners win 23-17 and advance to Indianapolis.

As crazy as it sounds, I may have a chance to go to Indy for the game (my ultimate Sports Bucket List item) - I'll get into that later. I'll really only consider it if the Niners win.

Enjoy the games everyone!

Dropping the SOPA: My 24-Hour Experience w/ Political Matters

The topic of politics produces many different reactions with many people I know - apathetic and anger are the most common feelings towards the subject.

Which is why it was unusual to see so many people posting their opposition to a bill yesterday (known as SOPA) that would severely cripple the Internet by giving the government the power to shut down sites that possess copyrighted material.

While I don't have exact numbers on how the online protests, led by Google and a self-blackout by Wikipedia, actually worked, what I do know is that a bill about to be voted on by Congress actually got the attention of the general public. A main reason for this is that it directly impacts just about everyone who relies on the Internet for personal, business & informational purposes.

This popularity of protesting a bill may be done in vain, but it brings up an important thought: how can the American public get this interested in more political matters?

They're crooks, liars & can't be trusted...

They're all the same--all scumbags...

Why vote for the lesser of two evils?

These above statements will keep many people away from voting. Honestly, most of these thoughts have kept me from voting.

Don't get me wrong, I have my political views. Everything I read about most candidates does not fit my views, so I'm never inspired to vote for anyone. This apathy is prevalent with many people I know, and it could be one of the reasons why the political system is broken. If the citizens aren't going to give a crap about who is in office, then those who are actually voted in aren't going to give a crap about what they do in office since many of the people they "represent" choose to ignore or generalize everything the politician does as crooked.

My attempt at "getting involved"

With this SOPA thing, I decided to sign a few online petitions and also emailed a few representatives, including both US Senators of Illinois.

One of them actually replied back this afternoon:


Dear Mr. Bolek:

Thank you for contacting me about the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), S. 968,and its House of Representatives companion, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). I appreciate your input and want to let you know my view on this important issue.

I stand with those who stand for freedom in opposing PIPA in its current form. Freedom of speech is an inalienable right granted to each and every American, and the Internet has become the primary tool with which we utilize this right. The Internet empowers Americans to learn, create, innovate, and express their views. While we should protect American intellectual property, consumer safety and human rights,we should do so in a manner that specifically targets criminal activity. The extreme measures taken in PIPA not only stifle First Amendment rights but also hamper innovation on the Internet.

S.968, as currently written, allows for abuse of our Constitutional rights, giving the Attorney General sweeping powers to block domain names of websites they deem "dedicated to infringing activities".Under current law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires service providers to block access toonly infringing material, but S. 968 would block access to entire websites that may carry a page containing infringing material generated by a third-party user. In my view, this is an unacceptable violation of our First Amendment rights. I also worry this type of censorship will be used as a model for foreign repressive regimes to censor the web within their own countries.

S.968 also places too great a burden on small Internet startups, as the bill would provide a private right of action to copyright owners. Since the bill would force the takedown of an entire site, not just the specific infringing page, it would hold user-generated websites liable for any content posted. This fear of liability and resulting uncertainty will cripple innovation on the Internet, one of our greatest economic engines.

I am also concerned about the bill's provisions that would undermine the security of the entire Internet.Network engineers and cyber security experts warn the technical implementation of the Domain Name System blocking requirement cannot function with the new security protocols, also known as DNSSEC, currently being implemented across the worldwide web.

While I support the underlying goals of the bill to crack down on online intellectual property theft, I believe PIPA in its current form is unacceptable. It will have widespread unintended consequences that will stifle freedom of speech and Internet innovation across the globe. This bill places far too much regulation on the Internet and will impact more than just those foreign "rogue" websites for which it is intended. I cannot support a bill that recklessly tampers with the Internet and our inalienable rights as citizens of a free nation.

Thank you for taking the time to contact me on this issue.  Please feel free to contact me at (312) 886-3506 or online at http://kirk.senate.gov if you have any questions or concerns before Congress or the federal government. It is an honor to serve you in the Senate.

Very truly yours,
Mark Kirk
U.S. Senate


This letter was refreshing to read on several levels: (1) the senator actually responded (I don't know if this is common or not); (2) he supports the people who hate PIPA/SOPA "in its current form"; (3) based on a letter my friend Jason received from the same senator on the matter last month, Kirk's stance on it then (more pro-PIPA/SOPA) versus now shows that pressure applied by citzens to its representatives can actually change a person's stance on matters.

(Note - part 3 here, I don't consider it "flip-flopping" - people change their minds in the face of other people's thoughts on matters more than we'd like to believe)

The question remains - will I become more politically active or at least try educating myself better on politicians and their views?

In any regard, if I do, I don't see myself aligning with one party like many people do. I won't get into what I'd look for in an ideal politician based on my views - no one needs to know the specifics.

I do think that we'd benefit as a society if we all became a little more involved politically. Let's hope we do it soon before America turns into as oppressive of a country as some where education and information become stifled by massive censorship and state-controlled media.

If we do, perhaps (and I say this with some delusion) Big Brother will listen instead of just its normal watching.

Brass Baughs: How the Niners Coach Defied Conservative Nature of NFL to Win Saturday

Did you happen to catch the rare occurence at the end of that Saints/49ers game?

No, I'm not talking about the 4 lead changes in the last 3 minutes (a playoff first).

I'm also not talking about Alex Smith's squad besting a team led by the NFL-record holder of passing yards in a season.

I'm talking about Jim Harbaugh. Specifically, the pair of brass balls that he possessed at the end of the game to go for the touchdown.

Sure, it doesn't seem like much of a risk to the average person, especially with a timeout left in the team's pocket with 14 seconds left. However, with how much conservatism we are used to seeing in the NFL on a weekly basis, the chance of a ball getting picked off or turned over would be in the minds of many coaches. Many coaches within that range (14 yard line, down 3) would play it safe and kick the field goal to force overtime.

If Alex Smith throws a pick, analysts would pick apart why Harbaugh would call for such a risky play when overtime is well within reach with a short field goal and a Pro-Bowl kicker. Nevermind that the Niners have the least number of turnovers in the league this year. A play that goes against the ultra-conservative nature of the NFL would get Harbaugh lambasted if it backfires.

You may remember John Madden suggesting to Tom Brady & the Patriots to take a knee and play for overtime on their last drive in their upset against the Rams in 2002. With this line of thinking, Madden represents the crowd of people who suggest playing it safe versus going for the winner while it is in your control and risking the chance of loss.

There are several problems with this conservative line of thinking that make the Harbaugh-types seem rational:

1. This assumes you can control your fate better when delaying the outcome of the game. Who is to say how the coin with flip in overtime? Even with the new rules, if the team who gets the ball scores the TD right away, the game is over. You don't think the Saints could score on the initial possession of OT easier than most?
2. Sports are about winning, not avoiding loss. Unfortunately, too many guys will be uber-conservative and take the chance of losing through that route rather than risking blowing a lead or a chance of tying a game.

One memory engrained in my head came from the Niners' previous coach, Mike Singletary, against the Minnesota Vikings in Brett Favre's first of two seasons there. No one speaks of the way Singletary handled the team's last drive when they were holding onto a 4 point lead with less than 2 minutes left - frankly because he was playing it by the book. Singletary called for three straight runs so that the Vikings would use all 3 of their timeouts, including a run on 3rd and long.

As any Niners fan remembers from that game, Favre got the ball back with plenty of time and found Greg Lewis in the back of the endzone much to the delight of the Metrodome crowd. Moments from being 3-0, Singletary didn't learn that the best way to win a game is when the ball is in your hands. On third and long, when a team can win a game with just one first down, a run is conceding control of winning the game. Especially against a hall-of-fame quarterback.

Take the opposite scenario: a few years back, the Patriots were holding onto a lead against the Colts and had a fourth and one in their own territory. I emphasize "holding onto" since the Colts had stormed back from a three-score deficit. About 30-31 coaches at that time would have punted the ball and taken their chances with stopping Peyton Manning one time with less than two minutes to spare.

However, Bellichick decided that he didn't want to take his chances with his defense against Peyton and instead went for it. Needless to say, they didn't convert; Peyton led the Colts on a short drive for a TD and Bellichick was raped in the press for going for it.

They failed to mention that a conversion would have sealed a Patriots victory. Also failed to mention that Peyton Manning is the other team's QB and was as automatic as they came at that time.

The "by-the-book" nature that many media & football personnel make moves like that (getting 1 yard to seal a win) seem absurd and yet allows guys like Singletary off the hook for running it three times with the ultimate intention of getting the team to burn three timeouts only to punt.

Let's give Harbaugh his credit for going for the win.

He showed that having a pair of brass ones is the best way to play.

The Game of My Life

Oh when the Saints....go marching out.....

In the same endzone Terrell Owens caught The Catch II about 13 years ago, Vernon Davis secured an Alex Smith touchdown pass with 9 seconds left that brought Candlestick Park off its hinges in Saturday's 36-32 win over the Saints. Coupled with the Packers loss yesterday, the Niners get a chance to create another playoff miracle at home.

The Niners' last three playoff games at home have produced Instant Classics:

Niners 36, Saints 32 (1/14/2012) - Any football fan who watched this one got treated to the game of the week (possibly the year). Despite Drew Brees' 400 million passing yards, our own QB (which I was reluctant to call him to start the year to say the least) created his own page in 49ers playoff miracles. I'm not quite sure how I can ever go to a better game than this in my lifetime - and this is not hyperbole talking.

Here's the best catch I've ever seen made in my life. I will get teary-eyed watching on highlight shows for the next decades to come: Vernon Davis catch

Oh when the Saints go marching out...

Niners 39, Giants 38 (1/5/2003) - I remember watching this game in the basement with some of my friends. When the score reached 38-14 in the third quarter, I was having my doubts. But a spirited comeback led by Jeff Garcia (331 passing yards, 3 touchdowns) helped give the Niners one of the biggest comebacks in NFL playoff history (next to the Frank Reich/Buffalo Bills comeback). The game ended with a botched field goal snap leading to a duck of a pass that seemed to be airborne for several minutes. I panicked seeing a flag down by the area where a Giants player was pushed down, but the penalty was called on the Giants.

The next week, we lost to the eventual SB champion Buccaneers.

Niners 30, Packers 27 (1/3/1999) - This is when The Catch II happened, but we got lucky on that last drive when a Jerry Rice catch wasn't ruled a fumble on the field. Still, the game, like the two mentioned above, featured a 4th quarter comeback. Out of the three, it also featured the best QB matchup in Favre vs. Young.

Like Saturday's game, it had the opponent score a go-ahead TD with less than two minutes left. Also eerily similar (as mentioned before) was the spot of the field that the Niners played hauled in the winning score, with similar jarring hits that the receivers (1999 - TO, 2012 - Vernon Davis) absorbed while holding onto the ball. The comeback against the Giants featured a touchdown with a minute left as well - I don't know how we keep getting in these close home playoff games spread apart, but we do. While the Saints game, we didn't need to score a TD with less than 10 seconds left, in these other games we did.

Here's TO's catch...another chill-inducer: TO catch


Oh how would I love to be in that stadium, when the Saints go marching out!

Internal debate resides within me on whether I will go to this next game. If I do go, I'm likely staring at buying a solo ticket since most of my friends cannot afford this expenditure, the g/f is going to Puerto Rico this week, and I doubt my friend Matt will want to go again. I'd also be looking for a way to make this a Sunday morning flight, cab it right to stadium and then possibly come back the same night.

Realistically, I'll be watching it with loyal B-Bo Knows readers Chris Williams and Nick Pazoles. I'm giving myself a Tuesday night deadline on buying these tickets. I need a break from San Fran to assess it rationally and financially.

Now finally....time to get some sleep. A work week awaits me. I'm sure I'll have a Niners preview cooked up later in the week.

Where ever I watch Sunday's game against the Giants, I will wear my Niner heart on my sleeve, rooting on my team that keeps adding to its playoff lore and hopefully has a few more victories left in the tank.

B-Bo's Bucket List: The Sports Version

Watching the Saints get the cover in the last 4-5 minutes of the game left me with a taste of football in my mouth. Immediately after the game ended, Jen and I had just left her apartment Saturday night to head to the Loop for a birthday get-together.

It was as I walked out of the apartment that I decided that watching football on TV this month wasn't enough. I had to go to a playoff game!

New Orleans' victory ensured them of a Saturday afternoon matchup at Candlestick Park against San Francisco - my favorite squad. A month earlier, me and Jen discussed going to a game together but didn't know what weekend it would be since they hadn't clinched a week off at that point. Jen's job of working at a salon forces her to have set appointments a month ahead of time, so this plan of us going was put on the scrap heap.

Between realizing that we couldn't go together and that moment Saturday night, I hadn't thought much about going to San Fran. I figured that if me and Jen weren't going, I wouldn't go, especially since none of my friends that I hang out with consistently are Niners fans.

With a simple Facebook status posted, I found out that lacking a Niner fan background did not matter to some of my friends. My friend (we'll call him Kudes) instantly texted me and was on board with the idea. Tickets for the game and flights were bought and a nice hotel was reserved for a three-night stay. Another friend (we'll call him Tom) showed interest but after the purchases were made.


(Check out our seats - Section 28 (Upper Reserved), Row 1)

Another friend (ok, Wolf is his name and we'll call him that) said that he would have loved to go as well, whether it was his team or not. All of this interest got me thinking...what would I put on my sports bucket list of sports events or experiences that I would like to see at some point in my life?

In the spirit of the new year, I'll name '12 different sports events/experiences (in no particular order) that I'd love to do (some I've done, some I haven't)

1. Baseball Road Trip (Achieved) - Fitting enough, this man we call "Kudes" was part of this original trip of sporting awesomeness in my life. Along with the Luzzman, we visited 12 different baseball stadiums in a 12-day span. This includes five stadiums that have since closed and a city that lost its baseball team (au revoir Expos). This once-in-a-lifetime trip is remembered more for the travels to and from places rather than the games themselves (life motto: process of traveling to destination oftentimes > destination itself).
2. Watch the Final Game of a Sport (Achieved) - Luzzman won the right to buy tickets to the 2010 Final Four in Indianapolis (Sounds silly I know). The hometown Butler Bulldogs came within a halfcourt heave away from winning the title against Duke. It was amazing seeing a close game to close the season of a sport. I did miss Easter with the family but we did enjoy a nice Easter dinner with my friend Phil and his wife who live in Indy.
3. Attending NFL Playoff Game (Will Be Achieved) - As noted, this will be achieved Saturday. Our seats are in the first row of the upper deck. We will be playing the role of tourists on Friday. The only thing in question now is the flight leaving on time. Normally I don't care about snow, especially working from home. However, any delay will annoy me slightly. Nevertheless, a little snow won't ruin my mindset as I get ready to watch one of the NFL's best defenses play against one of the NFL's best offenses.
4. Attend MLB Playoff Game (Achieved) - After seeing a dud of a game in the 2000 playoff season, which was the start of the White Sox getting swept by the Mariners, I had higher expectations going to the 2005 ALCS opener against the Angels, who were on little sleep after long flights from NY to Cali and back to Chicago and were starting John Lackey on short rest. Needless to say, the Sox lost. Luckily, I can tell the story of going to the White Sox's only postseason loss that year for the rest of my life.
5. Yankees/Red Sox
6. Duke/North Carolina (NCAAB)
7. Packers/Bears (not achieved) - I lumped all of these things together. All of these games are at or near the top of their respective sports' best rivalries and I have yet to see any of them. Obviously the latter is the most likely based on geography. I think I can get out to a game of the other two at some point. For all of these games, it doesn't even matter what venue I see them at - seeing as though I'm not a fan of any of these teams. I'd probably lean going to NY to see the new stadium but Duke/NC can be seen anywhere...someday....someday.
8. Big Ten football stadium outside of Illinois (likely Mich vs. OSU) (not achieved) - I'd like to see a good college football rivalry game, so odds are the Mich vs. OSU game would be the best one to go to geographically. If Wisconsin and Mighigan State continue to stay strong, I wouldn't mind to go to either of their stadiums to see a good matchup
9. SEC football (LSU, Bama or Florida) (not achieved) - The nation's best college football has been in the southeast for the first part of the 21st century, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I'm not sure if I'm ready to handle the craziness of this type of atmosphere, but I figure to blend in after about a beverage or ten and I can grow a wicked mullet.
10. The first weekend of March Madness...
11. and the Super Bowl....in Vegas (not achieved) - Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been to Vegas a half-dozen times. In fact, the first time I went was about four years ago around this time, in which I lost my first 4-5 bets placed (including some NFL playoff bets). However, there's something about the merging of certain times of year and Vegas that seem like a perfect marriage (see: peanut butter & jelly; rice a roni & applesauce; David Lee Roth and Van Halen). With March Madness, there are 32 games in the first 2 full days of the tournament and would go from 9am till about 10-11pm Pacific time in the four days.
    
    On the other Spectrum, the Super Bowl is one game, but it is THE GAME. It is by far the most bet-on game of the year (legally and illegally) and lately has featured some amazing matchups. Any sports fan who likes the reaction of fans as a game swings one way or another needs to go to a sports book when a point spread is on the line. It's a great site to see the agony of defeat on dozens of peoples faces at once (one of those faces is usually mine) contrasting the joy seen in the gentlemen who won thousands on games. I must go to Vegas for these events at some point. At the same time, I must be prepared to lose a ton of money
12. The Super Bowl (not achieved) - I put this near the bottom since I consider it the least likely of events to attend. This is all due to cost. I'd pretty much have to win tickets to the Super Bowl or get an awesome 30th birthday gift to go to the 2013 game (cough, hint). Actually, I wouldn't expect anyone to fork over money for that. This year's Super Bowl's cheapest seats on Stub Hub are going for $2200 apiece. These Super Bowl tickets are not going to get any cheaper.
    
    On the other hand, going to the Super Bowl site and just hanging out is always an option. I may consider going to the Indy area if the Niners somehow make it there. I know a couple of friends of mine that made the trip to Miami 5 years back just to watch the Bears against the Colts at a local bar and had a good time. I'd likely do this with the lady if she agreed to go - don't think I'd do this solo.

There's probably some games/events that I am missing. Feel free to share your ideas and maybe I'll add them to my own list.

I have many years to achieve these items on the Bucket List. Let's hope I can get this list whittled down sooner rather than later.

Obligatory 2012 Playoff Predictions & Look Back

As an occasional blogger of sporting items, I'm required by law to give my Super Bowl predictions.

Before I do that, I'm looking back on my pre-season predictions, which I picked Green Bay over San Diego (half of that prediction makes me hurl - and no Bears fans, it's not the GB part). At least my NFC Championship of GB vs NO looks reasonable.

Not counting the 3 teams that I said would get the exact win total set forth by Vegas, I went 15-14 in predicting over/unders of win totals (based on win projections in early August). My best division was the AFC East, as I correctly projected the division order & 2 of the teams' win totals on the dot (NE & Buf). Worst division, convienently enough, was the NFC West, in which I would have been on the wrong side of all 4 totals.

I predicted 4 of the 8 division winners: GB, NO, Hou & NE.
Whiffed bad on some of the others: Phil, StL, Pitt (not so bad), SD

I got 8 of the 12 playoff participants right, going wrong on guessing Phil, StL, SD & NYJ.

Overall, I give myself a B- on predictions. Usually, I don't get that many playoff teams right, and my Super Bowl winner is still alive.


On to the 2012 Predictions (Redux)

I already gave my first-round predictions:

Pitt over Den (Pitt covers -8), NO over Det (Det covers +11), Hou over Cin (Hou covers -4), NYG over Atl (NYG covers -3)

From there, that'd lead to the following matchups (and predicted point spread) in Divisional Round:

Pitt +5 at NE - I give NE the win and cover - Pitt may be too banged up to survive this year beyond Denver.
Hou +8.5 at Balt - Baltimore smells blood here. They grab the 2 score win and cover.
NO -3.5 at SF - I don't want to get my hopes up and say SF wins, I say they cover but don't win. NO by 3.
NYG +9.5 at GB - Things never go exactly like they should in the divisional round - I say NYG pulls out the upset straight up at Lambeau, a la 2008. NYG's pass rush will give Rodgers fits.

Conference championship

NYG +9.5 at NO - NO would loooooove to have another home game after this weekend, and if my predictions come true, they'll get another. Brees has hit the ground running in the last half of the year since the Rams loss, winning their last 8 games by a 35-18 margin, averaging 490 yards/game while allowing 390/game in that span (a whopping 100 yards per game. In this streak includes a late Novermber beatdown of NYG. I think NYG's luck will end here - NO goes to the Super Bowl for the 2nd time in 3 years and wins by 14.

Balt +3 at NE - As everyone who watches football this year knows, NE has a defense that would make the Swiss military look tough. I think Baltimore will be able to expose this weakness: Rice goes off for a 200 yards combined day, and their defense will do enough to thwart NE's pass offense. Still feels weird backing Balt (Flacco) over NE (Brady), but here we are. Welcome to 2012!

Super Bowl

Balt (+4) vs NO - Classic matchup between strong offense vs elite defense (moreso than Balt/NE - I consider NO more well-rounded and talented) in the final game. The initial edge has to go to the Saints, seeing as though the game is in a dome and they have been playing games like they're collecting medals at a track meet. However, on the game's biggest stage, I say defense wins out and we see John Harbaugh hoisting the Lombardi, with constant obligatory viewings of his bitter brother Jim watching from a press box.

Your 2012 Super Bowl Champions: the Baltimore Ravens!

Feel free to offer your own predictions. I'll probably whiff on many of these (per usual), and I hope I do. I'd love SF to win to collect on my $50 Super Bowl bet from a few weeks ago (to win $750), oh yeah, and cuz I'm a fan of them....(yeah, that reason as well).

Enjoy the playoffs everyone.

Lovie is a Battlefield: Why Bears Coach May Be Untouchable

Two Bears got axed - and I bet some (most?) fans wish there was a few more (Lovie & Ted Phillips ring a bell).

Whatever you do, Bears backers, don't hold your breath. Lovie is not going anywhere. In fact, I could see Lovie here for a couple more multi-year contracts.

Some reasons:

1. When the Bears top brass ridded themselves of Angelo as General Manager, they said that Lovie would have input over who was hired. You think he'll recommend someone who is likely to fire him?
2. He has two years left on his deal. Knowing Bears ownership, do you really think they'd fire him AND pay him?
3. His 3-3 playoff record may not mean much to you, but the Bears' brass loves his 71-57 and 3 division championships in his 8 seasons as coach. And outside his first year (5-11), he hasn't had any worse than a 7-9 record as coach. This is good enough for the Bears ownership - as long as their bottom line is being met.

Some might argue that having a bad year here and there (5-11 or worse) and getting some top-5 picks would benefit the organization, but the Bears' track record with drafts under Angelo makes me think it wouldn't have amounted to much.

The Bears have been just above mediocre for Lovie to avoid being fired many of the years, often taking a step up in the year that everyone in the media/public speculates could be Lovie's last, which is never the case.

Lovie will continue being coach, likely beyond 2013, unless the Bears just totally fall flat on their face (a la Dick Jauron). The McCaskey/Phillips group loves the guy and can justify keeping him if he leads them to a division title every 3 years or so (something previous coaches like Jauron & Wannstedt couldn't provide). However, I believe this to be a trying task in the next 5 years if the Packers continue to churn out talent the way they have. Rodgers is not going anywhere.

Perhaps those Lovie bashers get their wish if the Packers and Lions continually finish ahead of them in the NFC North (a possibility). The next Bears GM will have to ensure that he does a better job of finding talent that Lovie can develop.

The next Bears GM that.....yes....will be Lovie-recommended.

I wonder how the GM will feel having the coach, a man who in most organizations he'd be able to fire, as his boss.

Why the Bears give their coach this power, I have no clue. This kind of power makes me think he may be untouchable.

Just figured you should know, Lovie-haters, that he isn't going anywhere.

Happy New Year!

Shooting the Star: How Jerry Jones Has Lost His Way (Plus Week 1 Playoff Picks)

I had a friend tell me a couple months ago that Jerry Jones was heading towards becoming the next Al Davis. I thought it was a good point at the time - now I think it's a fantastic point.

Earlier this week, Jerry Jones reiterated that he was going to stay the owner/president/general manager/vice lord/whatever titles I'm missing of the Dallas Cowboys.

Quoth the vice lord: "The facts are that I've spent 22 years doing this exactly the same way."

Good point, oh wise one.

Problem is, your team has one playoff win in the playoffs the past 15 years - only Detroit has had less playoff wins in the NFC in that time frame.

His dynasty was mostly inherited when he bought the Cowboys in 1989, at which point Dallas was on the precipice of its success thanks to the Hershel Walker trade. In case you don't know, Walker, a stud Cowboy running back at the time, was traded to the Vikings (along with 4 future draft picks) for 5 players and 8 (edited, wrote down 13 originally)!!! future draft picks.

A few of these guys did some stuff. You may have heard of Emmitt Smith. Possibly Darren Woodson. Alvin Harper for those of you who know Michael Irvin's compliment in the Super Bowl days.

Since their last Super Bowl, not much good has come from the Cowboys organization.

Here are the list of starting QBs since Aikman retired in 2000, according to Wiki:

Tony Romo (77 starts), Quincy Carter (31), Drew Bledsoe (22), Vinny Testaverde (15), Jon Kitna (9), Chad Hutchinson...remember him Bears fans? (9), Anthony Wright (3), Brad Johnson (3), Ryan Leaf (3), Clint Stoerner (2), Stephen McGee (1), Drew Henson (1).

All you need to know - Quincy Carter started nearly 2 seasons-worth of games since the last of the big Cowboys left. Better yet, their best quarterback (yes, he is their best QB since Aikman) -Romo - wasn't even a drafted player. Thank Sean Payton for bringing him into Dallas when he was the offensive coordinator there.

Back to the point...Jerry Jones should not be holding so many titles. If you see your coach (i.e. Mike Shannahan) or owner holding so many titles, it usually comes at the expense of the quality of the team. Shannahan has yet to have success outside of the Elway/Terrell Davis-era of the Broncos. The same thing happened with Al Davis, who had success early as an owner/general manager from the mid 60s till mid 80s but completely tailed off from the mid 90s until his death in 2011.

Sometimes, people take on too many roles within a company, and it ends up hurting the product. No one knows how these guys may have done with actual GMs in their bad stretches, but one could deduce that these guys should not have held on to their multiple roles at once.

But as any area of life with business goes, sometimes power gets the best of people. "The facts are that I've spent 22 years doing this exactly the same way" becomes the justification for staying in your multiple positions.

The business-owner in him, a man who swings his junk around as if he wants to win more than any other owner, should be ashamed for pretending the past 15 years of his business have been successful enough for him to keep things "exactly the same way".

Week 1 Playoff Picks

Houston -3 vs Cincy
NYG -3 vs Atl
Det +11 at NO (NO wins but doesn't cover)
Pitt -8 at Den

This sets up NO at SF, NYG at GB in the NFC; Hou at Balt & Pitt at NE. I could see 2-3 road teams winning in round 2 if this were the set-up.

Go Niners!

Goals vs. Resolutions

Four days into the new year - how's your New Year's Resolution looking?

Did you set a concrete goal - like losing 20 pounds this year as opposed to abstractly saying "lose a lot of weight"?

Did you set a reasonable goal? This goes a long way in how hard you decide to go forth with a resolution.

I think a lot of times, New Year's Resolutions are people setting goals that they have no intention on meeting. It is procrastination at its finest.

Why are people compelled to make goals at the beginning of the year moreso than any other time of the year? Do they feel the need to change with the change of the year?

As with any change in life, you have to want to do it, not force yourself to do it because the calendar year changes.

Saying you are going to change something in your life on June 21st is just as good as saying it on January 1st. There's no reason to delay these major changes for the beginning of years.

If you want to run a marathon, you don't expect to just run one without some training. You have to build up to that goal over a set of monthly goals. Likewise, with other goals, you need to pace yourself with accomplishing some things.

I've learned that if I set unreasonable goals or goals I'm not really committed to, much of this short-term work to accomplish it will go to waste.

Just because you don't accomplish a goal doesn't make it a failure either. If you set out to lose a certain amount of weight and you lose 5 less than that in say a 6 month period, that's not to say you can't keep at it and try readjusting goals.

My Own Goals

Not all of them are important or life-changing goals.

1. 100+ blogs again - I'd like to keep my writing sharp and keep getting better at my craft. I'd like to write about variety of topics, although I'm sure I'll continue to weigh in more on sports topics.
2. 3000 Tweets & Gain 50 Followers (Go over 100): I had 1022 Tweets in 7 months last year & got 58 followers, so the goal is 4022 total Tweets and 108 followers by the end of the year. The reason for these goals is to gain a larger following for my blogs and like the blog goal, to keep my mind fresh. (It's @BrianBolek, to keep pushing this)
3. Get a Mac Computer & Become Solid at Final Cut Pro again:  I want to get back into video editing. I already know of one editing project that I have to do - editing the pre-video of pictures/music for my brother's wedding. I'm hoping this leads me to get back into editing other videos and uploading some videos that get me some notice.
4. Listen to all 4500+ songs on my I-Pod at some point this year: I have yet to accomplish this in the several years I've had my I-Pods. Usually what happens is I end up skipping songs. I'll see how long I can go without skipping songs. So far, through 22 of 4506. Currently listening to Lucky Boys Confusion "Mr. Wilmington".
5. Learn to design a website: I need to market myself more. Even if it doesn't help with finding a job in video editing or whatever, it can't hurt to have some self-created content (a la these blogs, YouTube videos, etc). I'm not sure how easy it will be to do this, but I will put forth effort to learn at some point.
6. Keep getting better/more knowledgeable about sports gambling:  As much as I'd love to become a professional gambler, I know that I can't handle the ups and downs of it. To see whether this goal is going well, I suppose I'd look at profit - or perhaps this is one of those subjective goals that is more about gaining knowledge than actual profit. Over the past couple years, I've gotten better at staying disciplined as a gambler, knowing my limits & executing research before placing most of my bets.

I hope you're able to achieve your New Year's Resolutions, but make sure you're constantly making reasonable goals throughout the year, not just saving it for January 1, 2013.

Good night to you all.

Blog about NFL General Managers/Coaches and Playoff picks to come either tomorrow or Friday.