Juiceless Orange Bowl
"I'll be in the stands cheering as loud as anybody for USC." OJ Simpson on where he'll be for the Orange Bowl.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm wondering why it's 4 in the morning and I'm awake listening to a 45-10 blowout on ESPN radio as I type this column.

Wasn't this supposed to be the game of the bloody century?

I only wonder will there be any Auburn Tiger fans whingeing about wanting a piece of the national championship after this? Heisman trophy winner Matt Leinart has 5 touchdown passes with the second half hardly started.

OJ, by the way, admitted that he was "scared to death" of Oklahoma freshman, running back Adrian Peterson. An odd phrase for someone of OJ's history to employ. It's like Ted Bundy admitting he's "scared to death" of facing Gabrielle Reese in a one-on-one coed Volleyball tournament.

*****

It's official, Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg are in the baseball Hall of Fame. Bruce Sutter experienced his 12th year of frustration, with 344 votes (66.7 percent), 43 short of election. Jim Rice garnered 307 votes, Goose Gossage 285 and Andre Dawson 270.

It's almost as though the hitter and fielder were split down the middle. Boggs had 3,010 hits and a .328 batting average in his 18-year career. Sandberg on the other hand, won 9 Gold Gloves, had a .989 career fielding percentage, still the best by a second baseman, and was a 10-time All-Star.

Boggs and his strange chicken fetish, we've heard all about.

Sandberg, can be discovered as an "everyman" by The Cub Reporter, has great range, as noted by View From the Bleachers and not Joe Morgan, in a bizarre yet poignant rant by The Uncouth Sloth.

*****

And The Winner of the Super Bowl Is....

I've made all the relevant observations idiotic rants about the NFL wildcards that I'm going to make for one season. In the end, I had two of the four games selected and missed on the Rams, whom I practically guaranteed would lose to the Jets. I correctly surmised that the Vikings would choke against the Redskins. However, I was also WRONG on the Carolina Panthers making it. Then again, so was everyone else. Who really had the Saints beating the surging Panthers in Carolina? Thought so.

*****
Orange Bowl Update: USC 48 Oklahoma 10: Matt Leinart has been promoted by hysterical ESPN announcers to the level of a "selfless person". Guess he'll be the 49ers pick in the 2005 Draft.
*****

I've a sad prediction to make and that is that I don't think my Jets are going to make it past the first round. Oh, I'd entertained delusions that the Jets would bounce the Rams all around the Dome like squash balls and vindicate a season which, with 10 victories, really hasn't been as bad as their late season swoon would indicate. But with the defence collapsing and QB Chad Pennington seeming on the verge of physical and mental breakdowns at times, I'm beginning to wonder in what other ways they might flounder before the year is up.

Of the four Wildcard games scheduled, Sports Amnesia will predict that one team will have a breakout game which redefines their season and reinserts them as potential Super Bowl candidates, regardless of their record. Yes, there are two 8-8 teams in the playoffs, but the predictable whingeing about it is growing into an annoying cacophony. Parity. Get over it. This isn't the first time this has happened nor will it be the last. In 1999, both the Cowboys and the Detroit Lions both qualified for the postseason with 8-8 records.

They were both stomped, by the Vikings and Redskins, respectively, by a 54-23 margin proving that whilst parity provokes poor teams making the playoffs, it doesn't keep them there long.

The one thing we should get straight about the NFC postseason, this NFC, producer of 8-8 playoff teams, is that:

A) The Eagles, despite a top seeding, will not make it to the Super Bowl.
B) Some unexpected NFC team will make it to the Super Bowl.

Secretly, I'd already decided this was going to be Carolina before the Panthers went and lost to the Saints. Now I'm not sure. My other guarantee last week was that the Atlanta Falcons would lose their first game of the playoffs. Also not so sure any more. In fact, I've done a full 360 as you will see in many columns later next week.

But onward to the 2005 Playoffs:

St Louis @ Seattle(-4): Well, we've all heard about the Rams beating Seattle twice already this season. Most of us of course, didn't hear about this during the regular season because frankly, who cared what these two did against each other in the race to mediocrity, but now it matters so it's time to wonder what those two defeats mean.

Hopefully, I don't have to read another article about how difficult it is to beat a team three times in one season. During the 80s I seem to recall the Giants beating the Redskins three times a season like, every season so let's dispel the myth: it isn't hard to beat a team three times in a row if one team is better than the other. In the previous 13 times one team swept another during the regular season, the team doing the sweeping swept again, 8 times.

The logical thing for the Seahawks to do, with an angry Shawn Alexander and a pathetic Rams run defence, is pound Alexander over and over for plus 200 yards rushing and the Rams, by default into oblivion. It should be a pretty straight forward smashmouth affair which takes away the Rams' fast and furious offence especially since they are not so fast and furious outdoors and Seattle is not known for it's sunny clime.

*****
Orange Bowl Update: Who wants to be a Sooner now, baby? Almost 5 in the morning in England and it is USC 55-Oklahoma 10 with 9:46 left in the game.
*****

However, the Rams have been able to defeat the Seahawks twice already. You know what I say to that? Seagals that's what. The Seahawks are 2-6 in playoff games in their history. This will be one of those anomoly games that will be close, but unexciting.

FINAL SCORE: RAMS 20 SEAHAWKS 14

NY Jets @ San Diego(-6): One of my favourite football blogs this season has been The Mighty MJD Sunday Afternoon Smorgasbord. The Mighty MJD is a Chargers fan - not one of those Chargers fans who have materialised from thin air over the last 10 weeks or so, but one who was with them from the beginning. After their loss to the Jets in Week Two, the Mighty MJD noted "We just played a terrible game, were -4 in the turnover ratio, and we still hung with the Jets, a team that might be pretty good. The Chargers might just not suck."

A week ago, I'd have been certain the Jets would make it to the next round. That was before losing 3 of their last 4. Before losing to the Rams. They've got the key ingredients: running game, run defence, experience. But they haven't really beaten anyone when it mattered and they haven't beaten anyone very often since their quick start this season, which, oh yeah, involved a previous victory over the Chargers. Two different teams headed in two different directions.

The Chargers have lost to all four playoff teams they faced this season. The Jets are 2-4 against playoff teams they've faced this season.

Both teams run the ball well, which is what you're supposed to do to win in the postseason. The Chargers were ranked third in rush defence and the Jets 5th so neither side will have much of an advantage on the ground.

So let's go to my favourite postseason stat, the turnover ratio. There the Chargers are plus 15 and the Jets plus 17. Again, an inconclusive difference.

It will be a tight game, tighter than the spread would suggest. Regretfully, wiser thoughts prevail over the heart.

FINAL SCORE: CHARGERS 24 JETS 20

Denver @ Indianapolis(-10): The Broncos beat up on Indianapolis' JV squad last week. The Broncos were humiliated by 31 points by these Colts last season in the playoffs. The Broncos hold an 11-4 edge in the previous 15 meetings.

The Colts, of course: Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning plus Marvin Harrison plus Edgerrin James indoors, equals ALOT of points, perhaps even against the 4th ranked Denver defence.

Does it matter that the Broncos haven't won a postseason game since Elway retired? Does it matter that Jake Plummer, after two consecutive starts in which he didn't embarass himself, is due for another bad showing. He has a meagre 75.6 QB rating on the road and in fact, during December, played three games on the road, lost two of them and completed 60 of 107 for 880 yards, 3 tds and most revealing, 8 interceptions. Yes indeed it matters, sportsfans.

FINAL SCORE: COLTS 30 BRONCOS 3

Minnesota @ GreenBay (-6): Good god, from the sounds of it, the Minnesota Vikings are the worst team in NFL history to make the playoffs. They've lost 4 of their last 5, they've lost 20 of their last 21 games outdoors and are 3-7 in their last 10 games. They've played Green Bay twice this season and have lost both times by identical 34-31 scores. Oddly enough, this is their first meeting in the playoffs. Green Bay, of course, is 14-1 (.933) all-time in home playoff games.

The Vikes and the Pack are split all-time, at Lambeau Field: 14-14-1 in 29 games. Can a game get any closer? Is it merely the sneer of oddsmakers at the ridiculous fashion the Vikes got in to the playoffs that makes them absurd 10 point underdogs?

It would be easy to come to the conclusion that basically, the Vikings suck if they aren't playing in the first six weeks of the season on artificial turf and yet, in the watered down NFC, were able to get into the postseason despite their best efforts. Last season saw a similar swan dive that knocked them out of the playoffs before they even started. Now they've got a chance at redemption.

All logic points to the Packers winning a third game in a row. But this unfortunately, is Sports Amnesia's upset pick of the week.

FINAL SCORE: VIKINGS 17 PACKERS 13.


*****
Orange Bowl Update: Final Score: USC 55, Oklahoma 19. Most excitement of the night was speculation on whether or not Leinart is going pro. Ah, the minds of idle speculation. But of course he is turning pro and playing for the 49ers next season.
*****