So it is January 1st. For the next month you will have to endure standing around with a sh*t-eating half-grin on your face while your co-workers talk about the upcoming NFL Superbowl (Sunday, February 4th).
You don't care, you say? You don't know anything about football, you say? You couldn't tell one end of a football from the other?
Listen, you have the patriotic duty as an American worker to waste your employer's time at least pretending to know and care about this American Classic Sporting Event - so classic that each year's game is numbered in Roman Numerals!
Here is the deal. Join us here to pick the winners in the chase for the Super Bowl rings.
We will guide you through the process in order to make it as simple as possible. I have run the regular season thing on A2K for 2 1/2 years and I have assembled some of the great football minds on A2K to offer brief analysis. I say brief analysis, meaning somewhere between 27 and 54 words. You can use that info to make your picks and be able to sneer sarcastically at your co-workers and say "My mother-in-law could run through (fill in name of team's) defense." Or you can pick on the basis of the color of a team's uniform or because you have a cousin who used to live near (fill in team's city).
Experts and non-Americans are also welcome to play.
Details on what you have to do and when follow shortly. We had 18 regular players during the long NFL season. I am looking for 30 in this exercise to decrease job place productivity. Thank you. -Realjohnboy
So here is what will be happening next week (1/6 and 1/7).
Eight teams with mediocre records will be playing in what are called the Wildcard Games in order to fill out the field and, um, oh yes, fatten the wallets of the tv networks broadcasting the games. Feel free to say derisively to your co-workers "None of those teams is going anywhere."
Pick the winners, please:
Sat 1/6 @ 4:30 pm ET:
Kansas City Chiefs @ Indianapolis Colts
1/6 @ 8:00 pm:
Dallas Cowboys @ Seattle Seahawks
Sun 1/7 @ 1:00 pm:
NY Jets @ New England Patriots
1/7 @ 4:30 pm:
NY Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles
Pretty easy, huh? All you do is post your picks here. Sort of in this format, but I don't really care:
Colts, Seahawks etc.
You can change your picks any time you want but the FINAL DEADLINE for making the four picks is kick-off of the FIRST GAME on Saturday.
0 Replies
jespah
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Mon 1 Jan, 2007 02:42 pm
The Ixli Games have begun.
realjohnboy wrote:
...
Pick the winners, please:
Kansas City Chiefs @ Indianapolis Colts Colts
Dallas Cowboys @ Seattle Seahawks Seahawks Cowboys will, alas, be demoralized by the death of Darrent Williams
NY Jets @ New England Patriots Patriots Hope springs eternal, you gotta believe, Cowboy up but not in Dallas, this is next year, there ain't nothin' like a New England gangsta, etc. etc. pick your trash talkin' hope-filled silly catch phrase as you wish
NY Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles Giants what's it to ya?
Thanks for doing this, oh Lord of the Picks
One Pick to rule them all, One Pick to find them,
One Pick to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Johnboy where the Shadows lie.
0 Replies
realjohnboy
1
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Mon 1 Jan, 2007 03:58 pm
The Colts have Peyton Manning at Quarterback. He is really good!
But the Colts have a dreadful defense against a running team. And then, to keep up, the Colts throw, throw, throw.
The Chiefs can run. Run, run, run.
The Colts not only need a better defense; they also need a more patient offense.
0 Replies
ehBeth
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Mon 1 Jan, 2007 04:04 pm
I need more clues - unless I'm going to go by cheerleader outfits or team colours or something similarly silly.
Not that I haven't won pools going the silly route. It's a family tradition.
hamburger used to regularly win office hockey pools without being able to tell a puck from a cleat.
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realjohnboy
1
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Mon 1 Jan, 2007 04:15 pm
(That was 54 words from Johnboy on the Indianapolis Colts. Here are 27 on Dallas):
Seattle is a good solid team.
Dallas? Lots of ego there. Not a lot of "we" in Dallas. A lot of "me."
Could end up hurting them.
0 Replies
Region Philbis
1
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Mon 1 Jan, 2007 05:47 pm
Colts
Seahawks
Pates*
Eagles
*it is grossly unfair for rjb to ask me to pick between my 2 favey teams... so i flipped a coin.
0 Replies
chiso
1
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Mon 1 Jan, 2007 09:49 pm
Come one, come all.
As long as I've been watching NFL, I don't think I have ever seen the home team win all of the first 4 Wild Card games. I know I've seen the road team win 3 of the 4. All of which means jack in helping anyone decide.
The point is, your picks, no matter what they are this first weekend, are as good as anyone's. I'll bet my ocean front property that the home team does NOT win all 4 games. (of course, the home team odds increase starting next weekend)
Oh yeah - and I still have no freakin idea who I'm picking.
0 Replies
ossobuco
1
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Mon 1 Jan, 2007 10:02 pm
I've no sense of these teams on field, what with no TV. I read a little on websites like ESPN, mainly to help me remember who is QB for which team with what Bird or Animal name. Seems all the teams are weak in some way and some can get past that sometimes. (53)
0 Replies
ossobuco
1
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Wed 3 Jan, 2007 02:27 pm
NY Giants (I like Tiki Barber)
Seattle (Dallas has been irritating me slightly more than Seattle)
New England (I actually think they'll win)
Kansas City (sheer guess)
0 Replies
realjohnboy
1
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Wed 3 Jan, 2007 03:16 pm
Realjohnboy goes with:
Kansas City over Indianapolis
Seattle over Dallas
NY Jets over New England
Philadelphia over NY Giants
I, too, like Tiki Barber of the NYGiants. I have "known" him since he and his brother, Randi, came to the Univ of Virginia as first-year players. They were obviously good athletes but they also were good students, seeming to understand that their talent on the football field would allow them continued success after their playing days were over. I have heard a couple of interviews with their mom who, I suspect, was quite capable of delivering a dope-slap if their heads ever got too big.
The problem for the Giants is that they seem to be in a bit of disarray right now, having lost a bunch of games towards the end of the season. Their young quarterback is, well, a young quarterback. The Giants, including their coaching staff, seem to be out of step with each other.
The Eagles, meanwhile, have come on strong in December even as they have had to replace their injured starting quarterback. I am no great fan of Philly, but I think that the stars are in allignment for the Eagles.
0 Replies
CowDoc
1
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Wed 3 Jan, 2007 06:25 pm
As much as I hate to, I have to take the four home teams. Kansas City, while capable of upsetting the Colts with their solid ground game, has been inconsistent, and Herm Edwards's track record in critical games has been less than shiny. Tony Dungy hasn't been a lot better, but he should be able to do well in the dome. Seattle has finally started to look like a playoff team, while Tony Romo has shown his lack of experience lately. The Seahawks are also finally relatively healthy, and should handle the Cowboys if they don't totally self-destruct. I give Chad Pennington major kudos for the year and his comeback, but Tom Brady and the Pats are simply way too good for the Jets. Lastly, the Eagles are riding a tsunami of self-confidence right now, while Eli Manning is still wondering what the hell he is doing in the playoffs. By Monday, he won't be wondering any more. At least, that's the view from the hinterlands!
0 Replies
JPB
1
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Wed 3 Jan, 2007 07:07 pm
Indianapolis Colts
Seattle Seahawks
NY Jets
NY Giants
No tiebreakers, rjb?
0 Replies
ossobuco
1
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Wed 3 Jan, 2007 07:13 pm
All your choices so far are so convincing....
but I don't care anymore. Maybe I'll go for worst selection.
Still thinking about looking up all those cheerleading outfits that ehBeth mentioned, but that could be soooo very Sports Illustratedish.
0 Replies
realjohnboy
1
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Wed 3 Jan, 2007 07:13 pm
realjohnboy wrote:
So here is what will be happening next week (1/6 and 1/7).
Eight teams with mediocre records will be playing in what are called the Wildcard Games in order to fill out the field and, um, oh yes, fatten the wallets of the tv networks broadcasting the games. Feel free to say derisively to your co-workers "None of those teams is going anywhere."
Pick the winners, please:
Sat 1/6 @ 4:30 pm ET:
Kansas City Chiefs @ Indianapolis Colts
1/6 @ 8:00 pm:
Dallas Cowboys @ Seattle Seahawks
Sun 1/7 @ 1:00 pm:
NY Jets @ New England Patriots
1/7 @ 4:30 pm:
NY Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles
Pretty easy, huh? All you do is post your picks here. Sort of in this format, but I don't really care:
Colts, Seahawks etc.
You can change your picks any time you want but the FINAL DEADLINE for making the four picks is kick-off of the FIRST GAME on Saturday.
Indianapolis Colts
Seattle Seahawks
New England Patriots
NY Giants
0 Replies
fbaezer
1
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Fri 5 Jan, 2007 06:57 pm
Colts
(They have Payton Manning, that's why)
Seahawks
(I hate them Cowboys)
NY Jets
(I like them Jets since Joe Namath declared, eons ago, he had sex before every game: his relaxed throw proved it was true)
Eagles
(I don't believe Tikki Barber is going to run 234 yards ever again)
0 Replies
chiso
1
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Sat 6 Jan, 2007 10:06 am
Colts
Cowboys
Patriots
Giants
I love overachievers like Garcia - but, even though I don't think their winning is a fluke, I think they're due for a bad game.
Cowboys because I like them, and because I think the only team more lukewarm than the Giants and Cowboys is the Seahawks.
Not going with the Jets because they only beat 1 team better than 500 this year. That of course was the Patriots. But only beating one team over 500 all season isn't good ... at all.
I really, really, really think the Chiefs could win ... I just didn't pick them.
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