NFL Conference Championship Picks
I’ll be the first to admit that my playoff picks have been terrible. I started getting cold in the final couple weeks of the season and that just carried over into the playoffs. Plus, I’m still trying to figure out how the Broncos beat the Steelers. It’ll happen sooner or later, but I’m just not there yet.
I was convinced that the winner of the Saints/Packers NFC Championship Game would go on to win the Super Bowl. The problem with that is that both teams got bounced last week. The Giants came out more fired up and less rusty than the Packers, who just didn’t seem like they were on the same page all day. The Niners used turnovers, physicality, amazing play calls and too many clutch plays late to kick the Saints out of the playoffs.
On the AFC side, the Texans couldn’t put away the Ravens. Houston’s defense was fantastic. They bottled up Ray Rice and never let the Ravens get into an offensive rhythm. But the Texans couldn’t survive three picks from their rookie QB. The Pats mopped up the Broncos in a hurry, and at this point, they have to be viewed as the favorite to win it all.
At New England -7 Baltimore
I don’t think the Ravens are very good. Granted, I have a very clear pro-Steelers bias that comes with a requisite level of Ravens-hate, but I mean I just don’t see this team taking out the Pats at home. While Flacco doesn’t deserve all the blame for Baltimore’s anemic offense, he certainly hasn’t been that impressive of late. The last time Flacco threw for 300 yards was in Week 9. I get that it’s not his job to air it out. Ray Rice is the featured part of this offense. But if you’re traveling to New England to play the Pats, having a QB that’s averaged 193 passing yards per game over the last nine games isn’t ideal. There’s only been two games this season where Flacco has thrown more than three touchdowns. So even if the Ravens D shows up big and Ray Rice goes off, I still think the Ravens need a big game from Flacco to pull off a Super Bowl berth. And I just don’t see that happening. Add in the fact that Ed Reed’s not 100 percent, Tom Brady looks like a man possessed and Gronk want touchdowns, and I just don’t see how the Ravens can pull off the upset.
Pick: Pats -7
At San Francisco -2.5 NY Giants
Alex Smith played the game of his life last week. He completed 24 of 42 passes for 299 yards and three TDs and no picks. And that QB keeper call where he used his wheels to score from 28 yards out was just incredible. Smith has the fewest INTs of any NFL starter this season. That’s crazy impressive. To put it in perspective, Alex Smith threw five picks this year. Last season, Eli Manning threw five times that amount. Eli has done a much better job this season, throwing only 16 INTs, but you get the point. The Niners have won ball games by being physical, leading the league in takeaways and performing solidly on special teams. But for that formula to work, Alex Smith can’t make mistakes. And last week, he didn’t. But this week, he’s facing a much more formidable pass rush and a defense that’s been steadily improving in both health and performance the last few weeks. I get that the Niners can stop the run. That’s great because New York’s ground game isn’t the foundation of their offense. Eli Manning is. His ability to make plays is what will be the difference in this game. Eli set a franchise record with 4,933 passing yards this season. He threw an NFL-record 15 TD passes in the fourth quarter. In short, Eli has been all kinds of clutch, and he’s the main reason the Giants are a win away from the Super Bowl. I’m not saying that it’s going to be easy. San Francisco’s defensive players look like they relish the chance to inflict pain. I see this game being a true, physical slug match. It’s going to be chippy, messy, rainy, all that. But I think the Giants will pull away at the end.
Pick: Giants +2.5
Last Week: 1-3
Season:139-118-12
Jan 20th
Wipeout Black and Blue Crew Giveaway
So last Saturday I watched that amazing NFC Divisional matchup between the 49ers and the Saints. It was just a fantastic game, full of action, big plays, last-minute heroics and such. That was followed by a super ho-hum, borderline-unwatchable AFC battle where the New England Patriots just crushed the Denver Broncos.
Needless to say, I was in the mood to be entertained after that lousy game. Surfing through the channels, I ended up on ABC in time to watch Wipeout. Now I’ve seen the show before, but I don’t really watch it religiously. But there was this big entertainment void that needed to be filled, and oh man, Wipeout delivered the entertainment goods in a big way.
There’s just something so pure and priceless about watching everyday people get bounced, tossed, punched, propelled, smashed, flipped and splashed. If you don’t laugh while watching Wipeout, there’s something terribly wrong with you. As a species, we all take pleasure in watching other people’s clumsy misfortunes. How else can you explain the 22-year run of America’s Funniest Home Videos. Is it high-brow humor? Of course not. But sometimes you need to suspend critical thinking for a bit and just enjoy watching other people’s mishaps. Sometimes physical comedy is the perfect way to fill an entertainment void.
So why I’m telling you this? Because Wipeout is so much more than a simple display of awkward human clumsiness. It’s controlled chaos. There’s a lot that goes into creating an obstacle course that can generate such a delightful level physical punishment. And the people responsible for testing the obstacle course are the Black and Blue Crew. This is their story:
The Black and Blue Crew, those highly trained, potentially sick-in-the-head individuals who test all this Wipeout stuff out, have six webisodes that you can view on the ABC.tv website. Each week will feature a new webisode, so if you can’t get enough Wipeout, there’s so much more to enjoy online.
To help get the word out on the Black and Blue Crew, we’re giving away four Wipeout tote bags:
To enter, follow us on Twitter and send us an email below describing your favorite Wipeout moment. It can be a punch in the phase, an awkward bounce from the balls, whatever floats your boat. We’ll pick four winners at random next Friday. Good luck!
Jan 20th
Haywire Giveaway
The film Haywire hits theaters on Friday, and I must say, I think it looks pretty good. To be fair though, they had me at Carano. You probably know all about Gina Carano. She’s a super hot MMA fighter who played Crush on the American Gladiators reboot and can likely beat the snot out of you in a matter of minutes. She did all her own stunts in this film, too.
Carano plays Mallory Kane, a highly trained, black-ops hottie who works for a government security contractor. After freeing a Chinese journo who was held hostage, she gets double crossed by someone within her own operation. As she’s hunted by skilled assassins, she must struggle to survive and find out the truth. She sets up a double cross of her own, but then it all goes Haywire and she needs to kickass her way out of it all.
Again, I’d probably watch this movie if it was Gina Carano and a bunch of extras, but this is a Steven Soderbergh directed film with guys like Michael Fassbender, Ewan MacGregor, Bill Paxton and Michael Douglas in the mix. How bad it could it be?
Check out the trailer:
To promote the release of the film, we’re giving away a Soderbergh prize pack that includes a copy of Ocean’s Eleven and Traffic on DVD along with a Haywire T-shirt, rubber bracelet and mini poster. To enter, just follow us on Twitter and drop us an email below. We’ll pick a winner at random next Thursday.
Good luck!
Jan 19th
AXE Hair Sundance Survival Packs Giveaway
The 2012 Sundance Festival kicks off in Park City, Utah today and we’re teaming up with AXE Hair to give away two AXE Hair Sundance Survival Packs. What does AXE Hair have to do with film festivals you ask? Well AXE Hair is sponsoring the AXE Hair Media Lounge & Groom Room at Sundance, a place where celebs can stop by and get some hair styling love before doing press interviews. Each celebrity will receive AXE Hair Sundance Survival Packs that include the following:
- “Touchscreen” Gloves (gloves that allow you to use your touchscreen phone while wearing them)
- Hand warmers
- Full set of AXE Hair styling products
- AXE Hair Branded Lip Balm
- AXE Hair Branded Mints
But you don’t have to star in a film that’s screening at Sundance to get your hands on an AXE Hair Sundance Survival Pack. We’re giving away two packs to two lucky readers. To enter, just follow us on Twitter and send us an email below. We’ll select two winners at random next Thursday. Good luck!
Jan 19th
Belkin Wireless Dual-Band Travel Router Review
It blows my mind that Wi-Fi isn’t available everywhere. When I traveled to Australia a few weeks back, I stayed at places that offered free Wi-Fi, places that charged you an arm and a leg for Wi-Fi, and places that didn’t even offer Wi-Fi, just hardwire Ethernet web access. And don’t get me started on multiple devices. There’s nothing worse than paying for Internet while you’re traveling, only to find that the iPhone connection that you paid $50 for doesn’t cover an additional connections for your laptop or iPad. It’s the 21st Century, man. People don’t leave the house without packing multiple, web ready devices. If you have to pay per connection to get online with all your different gadgets, your Internet access bill will get to be unreasonable real quick.
The Belkin Wireless Dual-Band Travel Router can help. It’s a small, easy to carry device that uses a Ethernet cable to create a wireless network in spots like airports and hotels. Because it’s dual-band, you basically get to beef up your connectivity and enhance your ability to stream music, videos or just power-surf the web.
The best thing about the Belkin Travel Router is that it’ll save you tons of money on multiple device web access charges. If you pay for an Ethernet connection at hotel, all you need to do is hook up a cable to this little box and then browse on as many devices as you want. So if you want to look up a restaurant option on your phone, while streaming Netflix on your iPad as you answer emails on your laptop, that’s not a problem at all.
The Belkin Wireless Dual-Band Travel Router is priced at $79.99. It comes with a carrying case and everything you need to hookup to an available Ethernet port. It’s a tiny case that’s easy to throw into any carryon bag. If you travel frequently, hate paying web access fees for multiple devices and want the power and convenience of a dual band wireless router on the go, this thing is worth the investment.
Jan 17th
Get Some iTunes Love for Shaving with Schick
No one likes shaving. It’s a tedious chore that has to get done and often gets postponed. If you’re a baby-faced cherub like myself, then shaving is a once a week task that isn’t too taxing. But most American men don’t have that luxury. Most dudes need to shave at least two to three times a week.
If you’re going to shave anyway, might as well get some kind of bonus for it right? Well Schick is currently running a promo where you can score some iTunes cash just for doing something that’s part of your normal routine. If you purchased any two specially-marked Schick iTunes Xtreme3 razor packs, (for him or her), you can redeem the included iTunes codes at schicktunes.com and claim a $10 iTunes download card.
That’s right, two razors gets you $10 to spend on some cheap apps for your iPad, a bunch of songs that you’ve got stuck in your head or whatever else you pay for when you log in to your iTunes account.
Here are few of the Schick products that you can pick up to redeem your iTunes credit:
- Xtreme3 Refresh
- Xtreme3 Hawaiian Tropic
- Hydro Blast
Once you have your iTunes card download card ready to go, you can also download Schick’s Ultimate Morning Playlist, which will be featured on SPIN Magazine. If you prefer choosing your own tunes, then create your own wake-up mix to enjoy during your morning cleanup routine.
You buy razors anyway, right? Might as well get something back for your troubles. The promo runs until the end of February, so get on it!
Jan 17th
Yvonne Strahovski Interview
Yvonne Strahovski is a fox. She’s a butt-kicking, twinkle-eyed fox. Her smile has been known to cause blindness. Her sexy Aussie accent has the potential to melt your face off. Strahovski could be at the supermarket wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, and she’d still be an instant head-turner. Imagine the kind of whiplash you’d get from seeing her after a six hour application of coconut and palm frond body paint for a sexy skinsuit photo shoot in South Beach.
Well thanks to SoBe, you don’t have to imagine this scenario. Strahovski became the third model (after Ashley Greene and Jessica Szhor) to don the body paint for a steamy SoBe Lifewater skinsuit photo session. The pictorial spread, shot by famed swimsuit photographer Raphael Mazzucco, will appear in the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition that hits newsstands on February 14.
The third annual SoBe Skinsuit spread coincides with the launch of three new SoBe with Coconut Water flavors: Pacific Coconut, Pomegranate Nectarine and Mango Mandarin. To celebrate the new flavors infused with coconut water, SoBe used Strahovski body canvas to create sultry scene of strategically placed coconuts and palms.
We got a chance to interview Yvonne and talked about the photo shoot, the application (and removal) of the body paint, her upcoming projects, the intensity of Jason Statham and what she misses most about Australia. Here’s the video
Here are some shots from the SoBe Lifewater spread:
If you want to check out more shots of Yvonne, make sure to visit Facebook.com/SoBe for exclusive behind the scenes photos and videos. You can also discuss the unquestioned hotness of Yvonne by joining the #sobeskinsuit conversation at @sobe on Twitter.
Jan 16th
NFL Divisional Round Picks
New Orleans -3.5 At San Francisco
Here’s something everyone knows: The Saints play better when the play indoors. But wait, now they have to travel to the harsh conditions of San Francisco, where they’ll face temperatures in the 60s and a zero percent chance of rain. This indoor/outdoor stuff is nonsense. Will the Saints ridiculous offense be slowed a little bit by running on real grass? Yea, probably, but don’t tell me that this matchup in SF is going to totally derail Brees and company because they’re not used to playing in sunny weather. Look, the 49ers are not a bad team. It’s not their fault they play in the watered down NFC West. They can stop the run, minimize turnovers and grind games out. This team is super good at field goals. But the Saints don’t kick field goals. They score touchdowns. Lots of ‘em. Sure the Saints have never won a road playoff game (0-4), but the team averages 150 more passing yards a game and 10 more points a game than the Niners. If San Francisco stalls in the redzone, which they so often do, then this game won’t even be close. I totally get that the 49ers have the best rushing defense in the league and they can pressure the quarterback and create takeaways and all that, but the Niners D will need to create multiple game changing plays to keep the team in the game. Go with the team that’s scored at least 40 points in the last four games over a team that’s allowed just 10 total points in their last three home games.
Pick: Saints -3.5
At New England -14 Denver
I can’t figure out which remaining AFC team I like the least. They’re all flawed, really. It’s going to be hard for this conference to knock off whatever team takes home the NFC crown. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick used to be a force in the playoffs, but the Pats have been unceremoniously bounced out of the postseason early the last two years, at home no less. The Pats haven’t covered against the spread in the playoffs since 2006. The Pats also have difficulty covering double digit spreads of late. I think Tebow played the game of his life, and it’s going to be hard to repeat that performance from last week. I fully expect the Pats to win this one. Still, covering two touchdowns is an awful lot to ask, especially when you’re up against a team that’s primary game plan will be to grind minutes of the clock and keep Tom Brady on the sidelines. Pats win but don’t cover.
Pick: Broncos +14
At Baltimore -7.5 Houston
I’m not sold on either of these teams. They’re similar in that they’re both run-focused squads with top-shelf defenses that prefer a more smashmout approach to the game. The Texans can manhandle people at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, but the last time these two teams met, Ray Rice went off and Flacco threw for 305 yards. Matt Schaub was bottled up and so was Arian Foster. The Ravens D also racked up three sacks. Baltimore dominated that game. The Ravens are 8-0 when playing at home, so I think the home field advantage really does play a factor in this game. I still don’t trust Flacco, though. This game should come down to a game changing defensive play. I bet it’s the Texans, not the Ravens, who make it. The Texans haven’t lost by more than a TD all year. Don’t see it happening in a low scoring game.
Pick: Texans +7.5
At Green Bay -7.5 NY Giants
It’s amazing how much respect the Giants are getting with this spread. The G Men kept it close when these two teams met in the Meadowlands a few weeks ago, and the Giants are certainly benefiting from their performances the last two weeks against Dallas and Atlanta. The Giants aren’t going to get blown out, but I fully expect them to lose. Sure, Green Bay’s secondary is vulnerable and Eli Manning has the weapons to exploit that. The Giants pass rush is incredible as well, but I just think the Packers are more likely to not show up flat. G-Men keep it close, but Green Bay pulls away.
Pick: Packers -7.5
Last Week: 2-2
Season:138-115-12
Jan 13th
