Borderline Fantastic Sports

Hey, I won one of these finally. I was the only one to pick the Saints over the Vikings in the NFC Championship. That was enough to give me the one game edge over Ahad.

Note: Evan didn’t make picks for the Sunday games in the Divisional Round.

With the Super Bowl over, here are the final standings for picks for this season. The scores here are for correct picks during the regular season and playoffs.

Ahad: Let’s keep things simple once again. I went against the Saints in the conference championship game and I am going to do it again. The Colts are the better overall team. Pick: Colts
Matt: The Colts haven’t lost a game all season when they were playing to win the game. And they have Peyton Manning. They just have to avoid the turnovers that cost the Vikings their game against the Saints, because they will certainly be able to move the ball on the Saints defense. You can move the ball on the Colts D, too, but they are an underrated bunch. An unhealthy Freeney will certainly hurt the Colts pass rush. They can’t let Brees sit back there and pick them apart. I think it will come down to which QB plays the best. Brees is good, but he is no Peyton. Pick: Colts
Evan: I am really rooting for the Saints. I also think they are equally good on offense, but the Colts obviously have a better D. Defense wins championships. Pick: Colts, in a close one.
Mike: I’m right there with Matt. It comes down to the QBs and you can’t help but think that Peyton will come up where he needs to. The Saints may have the better receivers and backs, but the Colts have Peyton. I feel like I should be rooting for the Saints. The Colts just won not too long ago and the Saints have never been. Plus, it’s New Orleans. It’s going to be one of those games where once I start watching I will lean toward one team or the other. I have a feeling that team will be the Colts. Pick: Colts

Olympic Pickem, if that’s what you want to call it, is here and ready for you to make your picks.

I’d wanted to do something for the last Olympics but I couldn’t wrap my head around a decent idea. The Winter Games has a lot fewer events. So I started with something simple. Just pick a country in each of the 86 events. If that country wins a medal, you get points. Simple enough. No dealing with individual athletes, that would get confusing in half a second.

Olympics Picks Site – Go here to sign-up or create your own group. If you have your own group, you can set the point values for different medals. Maybe to you, silver is just one of the losers.

Make Your ICH Picks – Open to everyone, just need an ICH account.

If you have suggestions for next time around, leave them in the comments.

Some things I thought of that I’d like feedback on …
I didn’t include any sort of wager or confidence points.
The country list is the same for every event. I didn’t have time to research what countries had participants in each event.
Perhaps a subset of the most popular events would be a better option.
Maybe each country can only be selected once (or a set number of times). I’d imagine some people would just pick the USA in every event.
Deadlines before each event. This year all picks have to be in before the 1st event starts on the morning of February 12th.

Jets @ Colts, Sunday 3pm
Ahad: The Jets luck finally runs out. At some point Sanchez is going to make mistakes that will hurt his team. If the Colts defense plays as well as they did last week, they should have no problem beating the Jets. Pick: Colts
Mike: I’ve been proven wrong two weeks in a row with the Jets. In usual circumstances, I’d finally jump on over onto the bandwagon. This is no usual circumstance. Peyton is involved. Pick: Colts
Matt: How interesting is it that the AFC representative will be one of these two teams? The Jets beat the Colts in Week 16, but the Colts pulled their starters in the 3rd quarter. This should be a good chess match between two teams that are polar opposites in philosophy. The Jets are old-school: play tough defense and have a good running game. The Colts are built for speed and passing the ball. I really want to see the Manning versus Revis matchup. Will Manning throw his way? It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the Jets win this game, but I can’t see Manning losing. Pick: Colts
Evan: I had a text message draft all set to go last week picking the Jets and the Saint, but never sent it to Janke, so I guess I don’t get credit for picking that upset. I’m going to stick with the upset bandwagon though. Pick: Jets

Vikings @ Saints, Sunday 6:30pm
Ahad: I am going to keep it simple. This game will be decided by the defenses and the Vikings have the better defense. Pick: Vikings
Mike: The Vikings sure looked good last week. At least that is the impression I got from the final score. I’ve been with the Saints all year so I’m going to ride. One thought: Saints/Colts I don’t have a favorite, it’s fairly even. Vikings/Colts and I’ll be sporting a Peyton jersey. Mike: Saints
Matt: Do you even have a Manning jersey, Mike? I am with Ahad, I think the Vikings do have the better defense, but they haven’t always played as well on the road and they are hurt somewhat along their D-Line. The Saints will need to be able to run the ball. They are undefeated this season when running for more than 130 yards and 5-3 when running for less. It will be hard to do against the Vikings. Favre will have to avoid the killer mistakes he has made in the past, which he has not done much of this year. You can run on the Saints, so I think Adrian Peterson will be the key in this game. I expect a big game from him. Last team to have the ball wins? I am thinking so. I’ll be rooting for the Saints, but I think the Vikings will take it. Pick: Vikings
Evan: I’m very nervous about the prospect of Percy Harvin not playing. He is my favorite part of the Vikes. I’m hoping that this game will live up to the billing of a high scoring affair. In the end, I’m going with the old man and the better defense. Pick: Vikings

Cardinals @ Saints, Saturday 4:30pm
Mike: The Cards D struggled against the Packers. Have you heard about the Saints? Pick: Saints
Matt: Be prepared for another shootout. The Saints have not played well in a month and a half while the Cards ramped it up last week. Well, on offense anyways. Defense will again be optional this week. Turnovers will be key because I don’t see either defense stopping the offenses on a regular basis. The Superdome will be loud, but the Cards were good on the road this year. I’ll go with the playoff tested Cards. Pick: Cardinals
Ahad: I don’t think the Cards will be able to rise up again on a short week. Pick: Saints
Evan: Saints

Ravens @ Colts, Saturday 8:15pm
Mike: Two things: I don’t want to put too much in to that dominate Ravens game and I’m a little worried with how the Colts screwed up their resting of starters (I don’t have a problem with resting them, but usually they want to). i think those points level out the past few weeks. In that case, I have to trust in Peyton. Pick: Colts
Matt: You sure hope resting the starters and tanking down the stretch won’t hurt the Colts in this game. The Ravens only lost by two earlier in the season when playing in Indy. They were driving to win the game towards the end but Flacco threw an interception. They settled for too many FG’s in that game, and that certainly cannot happen this week. The Ravens will pose a problem with their run game, but I think Flacco will have to outduel Manning. I don’t see it happening. Like Mike said, trust in Peyton. Pick: Colts
Ahad: The Colts won’t spoon feed points to the Ravens with turnovers like the Pats did last week. This should be a close game, but in the end Manning will come through. Pick: Colts
Evan: Ravens

Cowboys @ Vikings, Sunday 1pm
Mike: You know who could really benefit from a week off? Farve. He got one last week. The whole Vikings team seemed to limp down the stretch. Coin flip. AP. Pick: Vikings
Matt: Much like Sports Guy’s Cousin Sal (who is a Cowboys fan) said, “Can I pay anyone to pick the Vikings in this game?” Mostly everyone out there is on the Cowboys bandwagon, and that makes me nervous. Granted, they are playing very well in all phases of the game. The Vikings had a Cowboy-like December and weren’t playing well on either side of the ball until they demolished the Giants to finish the season. This should be a tight game into the 4th quarter, so it will be up to which QB makes the big plays in the end. I think Romo outplays Favre, barely. Pick: Cowboys
Ahad: The Cowboys are a scary team right now. Look for the Vikings to try and establish the run to try and slow down the pass rush. If Ware and Spencer just tee off on rushing the qb, the Vikings will be in trouble. I think AP will be difference. Pick: Vikings

Jets @ Chargers, Sunday 4:40pm
Mike: Where last weekend we had 3 awful games and ended up with a classic, this week we could have 3 tight games followed by a clunker. The Jets need the same performance out of Sanchez. I don’t expect them to get it, but I didn’t expect it last week either. Pick: Chargers
Matt: I could easily see all of the road teams winning this week, but most people think this game is where it is least likely to happen. The Jets match up well with the Chargers actually. The Jets run the ball well, but the Chargers have had trouble stopping it. The Jets were #1 on defense, but they were vulnerable against the run, especially last week. Fortunately for them, the Chargers were one of the worst at running the ball, even with LT and Sproles. I think this will be another close game, but I think Sanchez will end up making the rookie mistakes he didn’t make last week. Rivers will have to be smart with the ball, especially with Revis locking up on Vincent Jackson. I think he gets the job done. Chargers win on a late FG. Pick: Chargers
Ahad: The Jets had their moment in the sun last week. The Chargers are the better team and will have no problem in this one. Pick: Chargers

Last Week
Matt 3-1
Everyone Else 2-2

Remember, for Bowl Picks, picks were not made against the spread and each game was ranked 1-34 based on confidence.

Final Regular Season Standings

Ahad had a rough go of it. With 34 total bowl games he went 14-20. My only goal was go get above .500. 19-15 wasn’t too bad.

Here are the final regular season records. As you can see, Matt swept BF College Football this year.

It wasn’t much of a competition this year. I managed to make a comeback and was tied with Evan going in to the final week but had a lousy 2-3 performance.

Jets @ Bengals, Saturday 4:30pm
Ahad: The Bengals might as well have stayed home last week instead of going to New Jersey. They had nothing to gain in the game and pretty much gave it to the Jets to setup a rematch. The weather isn’t supposed to be good for this one, so look for the defenses and running games to dominate. The Jets defense is nasty and Revis is capable of shutting down any receiver one on one, but for some reason my gut feeling that you don’t win with rookie quarterbacks in the playoffs. At some point, Sanchez will have to make a play and will come up small. Pick: Bengals
Mike: Ahad mentioned my key point, but did it last. Sanchez is at QB. Pick: Bengals
Matt: Take 2. The Jets dominated last week but the Bengals didn’t really show up as they had nothing to play for really. The Bengals have lost 4 of their last 7 while the Jets come in winning 5 of their last 6. Both teams concern me on offense, but both defenses have been pretty stout throughout the season. With Ahad mentioning bad weather for this game, the team that can run the ball and play the best defense will win the game. Despite Sanchez’s inexperience, I am liking the Jets. The Bengals just don’t impress me all that much. Pick: Jets
Evan: The problem with the Bengals strategy last week is that it creates this culture of losing, that is not something you can just turn on and off. I think the Jets hear everyone saying how they are going to lose just because the Bengals actually want to win this week. I think the Jets running game wins this. Pick: Jets

Eagles @ Cowboys, Saturday 8pm
Ahad: Any momentum the Eagles had from their winning streak was crushed last week. The Cowboys dominated the game. The loss of Jackson at center was huge for the Eagles. The Eagles played poorly in all facets of the game and that is a huge reason for concern. There are a lot of problems that need to be fixed. I just don’t know how a team can fix all of those in a week. For the Eagles to win, they will have to be able to get lots of pressure on Romo and force him into turning the ball over. I just don’t know if that is going to happen. In 2 games this season against the Cowboys, the Eagles defense has not been able to get pressure. One would expect to see more blitzes, but quick hitting running plays can neutralize that. If the Eagles lose this game it might be the end of the McNabb era. The best scenario for the Eagles would be to get an early lead and then let the Cowboys beat themselves because of the pressure of not having won a playoff game since 1996. My head is telling me that Eagles cannot get things together in a week. Pick: Cowboys (Let’s make it clear that I am rooting for the Eagles).
Mike: Need to get Ahad talking? Bring up the Eagles. The hope is that they got a little behind and just gave up mentally. Right off the bat for the game last week I quickly was reminded that this Eagles D does not match up well with the Cowboys. The Eagles LBs are just weak against good TEs and it’s a concern when the RB gets to that second level. What surprised me last week was how much the Cowboys WRs got involved. The Eagles are still a good team overall and even terrible Eagles teams stood up to those Super Bowl winning Cowboys teams. I am going with Ahad’s thinking with the pick. Pick: Cowboys
Matt: Take 3. I am extremely nervous for this game. The fact that both of you picked the Cowboys makes even more nervous. All I know is that beating a team 3 times in one season is a tall task, even though history says otherwise. The game will be much more competitive than last week, so the Cowboys should be ready for the Eagles best shot. Obviously, there is the pressure of winning a playoff game for the Cowboys, but this team seems up to the task. I think it was clear this season, and particularly last week, that the Cowboys are a better team than the Eagles, and the Eagles just don’t match up well. The Cowboys just need to match the Eagles intensity and execute on both sides of the ball, and they should come out on top. Pick: Cowboys
Evan: Wow, somebody needs to pick the Eagles. I will fall on the sword: Pick: Eagles

Ravens @ Patriots, Sunday 1pm
Ahad: The Welker injury is huge. He is more important to that offense than Moss. This Patriots team is no where near as good as the ones from previous years. With that being said, they should be able to get by the Ravens who have struggled on offense. The only way the Ravens win is if Ray Rice goes crazy. Despite the Welker injury, the Pats survive this week. Pick: Pats
Mike: Brady back in the playoffs, it will be just like old times. Pick: Patriots
Matt: Take 2. The Ravens felt that they got robbed by the officials in the earlier matchup with the Patriots, so they are back for revenge. The injury to Welker is big as Ahad said, but apparently, Randy Moss has been hobbling around this week, too. It would seriously limit the Patriots passing game if he was less than 100 percent plus no Welker. I think the Ravens are the type of team that could pull off the upset here, but the Patriots and Tom Brady have been so tough at home. Ray Rice will get his yards, but Flacco will have to make a few plays in the passing game. I think the Ravens D will make a big play that will turn the game in their favor. Pick: Ravens
Evan: Pats will be firing on all cylinders. Flacco isn’t ready yet. Pick: Pats

Packers @ Cards, Sunday 4:40pm
Ahad: This Cardinals team is dangerous, especially at home. Warner is a proven playoff quarterback who will find a way to win this game. Green Bay has done nothing to impress me and I don’t like Rodgers. Pick: Cards
Mike: The Packers are going to get me but the Cards proved it last year and Warner has proved it plenty. Pick: Cardinals
Matt: Take 3 (they played in the preseason). Green Bay is a dangerous team, too. I think this may be the best game of the weekend. I think that Warner and Fitzgerald must play lights out to have a chance in this game. The Packers enter the postseason as possibly the 2nd hottest team in the league. They are clicking on all cylinders right now and are well balanced. The Cardinals have the experience from the playoffs last season, but I am having a hard time seeing them winning this game. The Packers take it and remain a darkhorse for the Super Bowl. Pick: Packers
Evan: I like Warner one more time, but this is it. Pick: Cardinals