After an epic wildcard weekend when an improbable performance led to a week of accolades and praise, a massive failure in the divisional round has again raised questions as to whether he should really even be trying to earn a living doing this.

Never have I felt closer to Tim Tebow than I do now.

He had that 29-23 OT win against the Steelers. I had going 7 of 8 on first half and full game picks against the spread. We were on top of the world. Entire SportsCenter episodes were devoted to some or all of our exploits. After years of facing doubters, we were finally proving we belong.

Until the damn Patriots came along.

Tim’s season ended after an abysmal, embarrassing 45-10 loss in New England. I finished the weekend having gotten 2 of 8 picks right – which means my picks were just slightly more accurate than Tim’s passes.

However while Tim will head off to the Philippines to circumcise children –which we really hope he completes with a much higher accuracy than his passing – I battle on and turn my attention to the AFC and NFC title games.

Can I salvage my overall 9-7 record and successfully return to the land of riches and showgirls?

Will we see a re-match of Super Bowl XLII?

Will the Harbaugh brothers face each other in a Super Bowl that sets a record for ‘Most reporters beating tired storyline into ground before end of first week’ after narrowly edging out T.O.’s ankle in 2005 and Patriots pursuit of 19-0 in 2008?

Will Alex Smith and Joe Flacco makes us all pine for a Brad Johnson / Rich Gannon Super Bowl?

What percentage of Green Bay’s population dies of a broken cholesterol-clogged heart in the next year?

I can’t answer all of these questions. Ok, I can’t answer any.

But I can make more picks that have a 56% chance of being correct!

AFC Championship – Ravens @ Patriots

Halftime: Patriots (-4.5)

Full Game: Patriots (-7.5)

This past Thursday would have been Edgar Allan Poe’s 203^rd birthday. In an odd tradition a mystery man would show up every year and place 2 roses and a half-full bottle of cognac on the Baltimore area grave of the author of The Raven, inspiration for the team’s name. In an even odder tradition, people started showing up each year to watch a mystery man show up and place 2 roses and a half-full bottle of cognac on the author’s Baltimore area grave. While I think this says a lot about the entertainment options in the greater Baltimore area, I have to admit, there is a history/mystery geek buried in me that loves this tradition so, so much.

Sadly, for the 3^rd year in a row the Poe Toaster did not show up and the annual vigil is being abandoned. Sad as the end of this tradition is, it is equally sad to me that this may be the end of the greatest nickname east of AK-47, Andrei Kirilenko.

So what does this have to do with the Patriots, Ravens game? Nothing. And everything. On a weekend after the Poe Toaster vanishes for good, will the Ravens be able to play effectively with heavy hearts? Will this be a reminder to Ray Lewis of his less than glorious past (driven crazy by the endless thumping of the tell-tale heart)? Will Joe Flacco be able to set aside his recent troubles and play well or will he be responsible for the Fall of the House of Usher….err the House of Bischiotti?

The Ravens have played the Pats well in the past, but the Patriots seem to be on a mission this year. Flacco has not progressed during his time in the league and the team has yet to find receivers to pick up the slack.

In the end, I think the tone of his game will be set early. The Pats will either come out and dominate from the start (see: last week) or they will struggle and let the visitors stay close the whole game. This is one game where the halftime pick must be the same as the full game.

I think the Patriots dominate the Ravens like Bill Belichick attacking the sleeves of a hoodie. Take the Pats in both the first half and for the whole game.

In the end, like the Poe Toaster, the Ravens shall be nevermore.

NY Giants @ Forty-Niners

Halftime: Forty-Niners (-.5)

Full Game: Forty-Niners (-2.5)

An NFC Championship game played in Candlestick Park on the edge of the San Francisco bay. It is enough to make an old heart warm with nostalgia. Or angina from all that wine and cheese. However this game is so opposite of games we have seen in the past.

Eli Manning is now the quarterback of a high powered passing attack. Yes, this man.

The Forty-Niners, once the underground laboratory for the mad-scientist of the West Coast offense revolution, relies on powerful defense and staunch running game to win.

When these teams met in the late 80’s it was the Giants running the ball and using a powerful defense, with a freak at linebacker, to slow down the meticulous 49er offense. Now the gameplans are reversed.

In the end, the Niners have already faced a better offense and prevailed. The Giants surprised a rusty, out-of-rhythm Packers offense last week that hadn’t played in nearly a month. The Niners shut down an offense that had scored 45 the week before.

A home field advantage of fans desperate for a return to championship performance brings out the best of the Niners in this one. The defense slows the Giants offense and the 49er offense slowly grinds down the Giants defense.

Take the Giants in the first half (say one long Victor Cruz touchdown, puts them in the front or keeps it tied). But the Niners find a way after halftime, Vernon Davis gashes the Giants secondary and the 49ers win, cover and head back to the Super Bowl.

In a battle for the ages, the Super Bowl pits the closest thing to a dynasty we have seen this millennium against the franchise that defined the word dynasty in the 80s.

We are now approaching hour 48 of CutlerGate and it is time to get beyond reacting to what Jay Cutler did or didn’t do at the NFC Championship game on Sunday. In fact it is about time to get beyond reacting to the reaction to what Jay Cutler did or didn’t do at the NFC Championship game on Sunday.

I can claim no holier-than-thou ground on the reaction to Cutler not playing in the 2^nd half due to a (we now know) sprained knee. I jumped on the joke making bandwagon just like the next guy. I made twitter jokes about finding a dedicated camera trained on Cutler on the Lifetime network and that Phillip Rivers had officially just won their long-running feud.

I also said Cutler’s face looked like Kristin Cavallari just told him she still loves Brody Jenner. But that was before he hurt his knee, so it isn’t relevant. Though it still makes me chuckle.

But you know what? I would do it again. I feel that I am allowed.

I am an irrational fan. A fan that was both deserted and then insulted  by Cutler. If anyone has a right to make jokes at Cutler’s expense, it is a Bronco fan.

What has been most interesting about all of the fall-out from Cutler is the breadth of negative reactions to Cutler.

This isn’t a media-only story. This isn’t solely the case of the media lashing out at a player who wouldn’t accommodate them and they decided to portray him as evil (see: Bonds, Barry).

The negative reaction came from all corners: media, former players, current players. It seems that hating Jay Cutler is the only thing that we are united about as a country.

I half expect Obama to take a shot at Cutler tonight in the State of the Union and receive a long-sustained bi-partisan standing ovation in response.

Now, whether Cutler could return to play is up for debate. I have never suffered a 2^nd degree knee sprain, so I can’t speak to whether he could play. I sprained one ankle in a football game in high school and kept playing but then sprained another in college so severely I was still limping weeks later.

I can’t shout from the rooftops that he absolutely had to play since it was the NFC Championship. I don’t know what he felt like.

And, let’s face facts. He was having a bad day already. Would he have played any better with a questionable plant leg and the pain in the back of his mind on every snap? If you ask me, playing Caleb Hanie was the best thing to happen to the Bears on Sunday.

Setting aside, trifling things like facts though, I am more interested in the root of the widespread villification of Cutler. Why did everyone so immediately jump on and shred Cutler? To me, there is only one answer:

No one likes Jay Cutler.

Not exactly groundbreaking I know, but let’s think about the ramifications of this.

This wasn’t just the media taking down a player that isn’t cooperative.

This wasn’t just former players that will always believe players were better and tougher in their day.

This wasn’t former teammates taking an opportunity to take a shot at a player they learned to not like while sharing a locker room.

This wasn’t rival players that play him each year and have lost to him.

This was everyone.

Look at the cross-section of people that took high profile opportunities to dig at Cutler.

Maurice Jones-Drew. He has played 2 games against Cutler. Neither since 2008. And his Jags won both games.

Derrick Brooks played once against Cutler in 2008.

Darnell Dockett has played twice against Cutler.

Deion Sanders and Mark Schlereth have both been retired for years.

Yet, all of these people went out of their way to tweet their disgust at Cutler, immediately with no more information than you or I had that point.

They all immediately decided that Cutler was punking out on his team and responsibilities.

Why?

Because no one likes Jay Cutler. He comes across as arrogant, unfriendly and, probably most daming in the NFL, uncaring. His disinterested look on the sidelines; his head-down, mumbling style screams that he isn’t a leader.

Not just fans and the media see this. Players do too. They also talk among themselves. Brian Urlacher and other Bears may be the only people defending Cutler today, but let’s not forget even King Narcissus himself Terrell Owens once broke down in tears about ‘my quarterback’. Sometimes the press conference is as important of a performance as anything on the field.

It wasn’t that long ago that Cutler had ticked off Urlacher before he had played his first game as a Bear.

Cutler has done an admirable job of making enemies throughout the NFL. Just as importantly, his off-putting personality also keeps people in the media from playing a role as his apologists as they would for other players that maybe weren’t the most popular in their own locker rooms (see: Favre, Brett).

Cutler has created the perfect storm: he has nobody that likes him and then got himself caught in a controversy.

Bonds is a good comparison to Cutler (less the record setting, awe-inspiring performance by Bonds). After years of being a jerk to pretty much everyone, Bonds had no friends left when the PED scandal fell at his feet. Thus, Bonds, to this day, is Cruella DeVille, making a home run bat out of syringes while other players like A-Rod are slapped on the wrist but largely given a pass over time for their (more concretely proven) PED use.

So no one will ever know whether Cutler should have kept playing (and more importantly if that would have improved the Bears chances of winning), but one thing we have learned is that Jay Cutler needs to listen to more Stevie Wonder.

Knowin’ you can always count on me
for sure
that’s what friends are for

In good times
And bad times
I’ll be on your side forever more
That’s what friends are for

- That’s What Friends Are For

There are only 3 games left of the 2010 football season (and the 2010 football season may be the last pro football we will see for a long time), so our hate is like a can of frozen orange juice at this point – concentrated.

No need to sprinkle small amounts of hate upon many teams. Instead, we can aim a fire hose of hate at these games and douse the teams in the juice of our loathing.

Hmm, that analogy got awkwardly sexual there at the end. Maybe it’s best we just move on.

In fact, it is very easy to hate in each of these games. Prior to the season we listed the pro teams we would most hate this season. Yes, the 2 teams I identified are playing each other for the AFC title (well played karma, and nice job with LeBron as well).

On the NFC side, we have probably my least favorite individual in all of the NFL playing for a chance at the Super Bowl.

In fact, the NFC championship game is so obviously one-sided there is no point in even debating it here. Of course, we are all cheering for the Packers. As every American outside of the 312 area code should be doing. Sorry Julius. Too bad Brian. Tough luck Devin. You have aligned yourself with Jay Cutler and therefore I must cheer heartily against you.

It is almost comically appropriate that Jay is now dating Kristin Cavalleri. She rose to fame by being the nemesis of Lauren Conrad on Laguna Beach, and I was always an LC fan, so aligning Kristin with Droopy Jay is a great pairing of people I loathe. It’s like Manu Ginobili and Vienna from The Bachelor getting together: they deserve each other.

So forget the NFC. On the AFC side, it is much tougher. How do you choose between two things you hate? Who would I rather cheer for, Steelers or Jets? Would I rather watch American Idol or Dancing with the Stars? To me, they are the same question. What I would rather do than either is slowly grind a lead pencil into my leg until I burst the femoral artery or die of lead poisoning.

But I can’t find a pencil sharpener, so choose I must. Shadow and Turner are in the same boat so we went all communist this week and came up with the collective way to determine a team to cheer on.

We each came up with one question and distributed to the others, and by each of us answering all three questions will arrive at our team to cheer on.

Or at least cheer against less.

Shadow: Is there any way for all both teams to lose a game?  Could we institute that rule?  Can we do the 2010 season over?  How could we possibly end up with two teams in the AFC Championship game more hateworthy than the ones we did end up with?  There are no good answers to these questions.  I guess this was what the THH was designed for….helping to pick the lesser of two very evil teams.

AFC Championship Game: Jets @ Steelers:

Question #1 – Which defensive nickname do you prefer:  The Steel Curtain or The Gang Green? Please provide the rationale

SD: I think Turner only included this question because 2 years ago at March Madness in Denver we nicknamed the George Mason mascot ‘Gang Green’. Good memories. Anyway, while I am generally always in favor of nicknames that derive from infected war wounds, that isn’t why I am going with Gang Green here. I am going with it here because I don’t like the word ‘Curtain’ in a nick name. Shouldn’t it be a Steel Wall? Or Steel Fence? Or even Steel Vagina? A curtain to me is not tough – no matter what material. If you were to actually build a steel curtain, wouldn’t it be like one of those bead curtains that were so popular in the 70’s? That is not intimidating. An infected wound oozing puss and giving off an odor until the limb is amputated – now that isn’t something to mess with.

Jets 1, Steelers 0

Turner: Both Quality Nicknames but the creativity of TGG (much like THH) takes the cake in this one.  Why?  Just go to www.theganggreen.com (it is safe) and www.steelcurtain.com.  If you have your fans website with the name of your defense, it is great.  Meanwhile, Steel Curtain is weak. Plus, if you had Mark Gastineau (a disease caused by contracting Gang Green) or Joe Klecko on your defense, you automatically win. Jets 1 – Steelers 0

Shadow: Did anyone present grow up during the Cold War?  Check.  Steel Curtain reminds me very much of the Iron Curtain.  If you have to rip off Communism for the nickname of your team, then I question your very Americanhood.  Why Pittsburgh, why?  And your QB stole the nickname of a famous London landmark.  How can the Steelers even live with themselves?  Gang Green may inspire more thoughts about grungy showers and athlete’s foot than anything else, but at least they aren’t inspired by some pinko Commies.  Jets 1-0

2 – Both of these teams lost the Broncos in an AFC title game. Which of those two teams had the player you liked most?

SD: I have always been a wide receivers guy. I grew up cheering on the Three Amigoes; I wore #82 in high school, partially thanks to Vance Johnson. In college I secretly believed that I could become the next Matt Friar if I went out for football rather than track (though, if I went on TV asking for another shot at a national title after losing at Notre Dame, I would have done it with less tobacco in my cheek). So, for me this always comes down to the receivers. In this case we have the 1998 Jets, featuring Wayne Chrebet – the player every single white receiver was compared to until Wes Welker took that title in 2007 – and Keyshawn Johnson – the anti-Chrebet – a physical freak that couldn’t shut his mouth. For the 1997 Steelers, their starting receivers were Yancey Thigpen and Charles Johnson. Johnson had gone to CU while I was still in high school, so I was already partial to him. But it is Thigpen that wins this one for the ‘Burgh. Do you realize he was a Pro Bowler in 1997? Has any player faded from history faster than Yancey Thigpen? Have you ever heard an announcer say that a player ‘reminds me of Yancey Thigpen’? Do you remember anything about how Thigpen played? Was he a speedster? Was he tall? Why was he named Yancey? Why haven’t we seen a LeYancey suit up for the Pitt Panthers yet? I have no idea on any of these questions because I have no memory of Yancey playing and apparently, neither does anyone else. He had no distinguishing characteristics beyond obscenely large eyebrows. It is too bad for him. Maybe if the Steelers had won this game and gone on to win the Super Bowl he would have the same place in history as Phil McConkey or Timmy Smith rather than no place in history at all.

Jets 1, Steelers 1

Turner: Much like the game, this THH on this one is hard because there is hardly a player on either team that I ever cared for.  Let’s see Vinny Testeverde (UM – BOO), Big Ben, Hines Ward, blah, blah, blah..  The only savior in this one is the one and only Wayne C(s)herbet. It is your famous, reliable Caucasian wide receiver.  If he was flavor of sherbet, what flavor would he be, yes, pure vanilla.  I personally love orange sherbet, such a great, healthy dessert and not served often enough in this country.  Anyway, any flavor of dessert is better than anything that was part of that horrid Steelers team that took down the beloved Jake Plummer. Jets 2 – Steelers 0

Shadow: While not truly a Steeler for his entire career, my favorite player on either the Jets of 98 or Steelers of 97 was Jerome Bettis.  While I can appreciate a lithe runner like Barry Sanders who makes his magic by making people miss, or a back like TD who combines speed and power…there is something really satisfying about seeing a runner who just plain enjoys looking for contact and trying to punish any defender dumb enough to try and tackle him, and that is why it was a pleasure to watch the Bus rumble in Pittsburgh.  All tied 1-1

3 – Who is the more obnoxious ex-QB:  Bradshaw or Namath?

SD: Ok, full admission. I don’t hate Terry Bradshaw. I never saw that movie with him playing the dad of Matthew McConaughy, dating Sarah Jessica Parker (for obvious reasons: read that last sentence again). I rarely watch Fox pre-game show, so I don’t get overexposed to his colloquial wit and obnoxious laugh. I even liked him in The Cannonball Run. Joe Namath on the other hand has never done anything for me. He was a mediocre quarterback who happened to be in the right place at the right time (see: Manning, Eli). Since retirement he is only seen making an ass of himself: jumping on the coattails of the current Jets team’s success or drunkenly propositioning sideline reporters. Basically, outside of one pool-side interview in 1969 and one well-played game a few days later, Namath has done little for the betterment of mankind. Nothing to compare with Cannonball Run at least; that is a classic.

Jets 1, Steelers 2. Looks like Steeler nation has one more bandwagon jumper this weekend.

Turner: Bradshaw or Namath?  If exposed equally, it might be a tie, but having to 1) see Bradshaw every week during the season and 2) seeing his naked bum in a movie, just crossed so many lines.  So what if Namath got hammered on national tv and hit on a woman – we can all find YouTube videos of ourselves doing that (just trying youtubing “SuperDave in Humping Hannah’s” it is unreal stuff).

So there you go – it is a sweep, J-E-T-S, JETS JETS JETS!

Shadow: Terry Bradshaw always seemed like a bit of a hick.  He fit in well with the Steelers blue collar fans, and after football he went on to star in classic movies like Cannonball Run 2 and of course Failure to Launch….and then became a fixture on the Fox Sunday Morning crew where he would engage in the subtle art of trying to make points by yelling louder than anyone else.  Obnoxious meter on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being those All State Insurance commercials that are incessantly played:  4.5.  Joe Willie Beamon Namath on the other hand guaranteed a victory in Super Bowl III and then pretty much rode that one accomplishment for the rest of his life.  Let’s be realistic…has a player ever parlayed one shining moment into a longer legacy than Namath?  Career record:  62-63-4.  Career TD to INT:  173-220.  But, guarantee a win on the biggest stage and then back it up, and hell, you are set.  That alone makes him the more obnoxious ex-QB, even without mentioning his drinking habits, his attempted molestation of Suzy Kolber, his utter failure as a MNF color commentator where he was the anti-Gruden and ripped players at every turn, or his appearance on Hard Knocks this year.  Obnoxious Meter:  a solid 9.  Steelers 2-1

So there you have it.  I will be forced to side with the Steelers on Sunday because the THH says so…..BUT, I will still hope for some sort of outcome that involves much pain for both these organizations.

One half of one point.

It isn’t even a real number. How can you score half of a point? That is like a half of a penny or a bazillion. It isn’t a real number. It’s a number made up by someone just to torture others.

Half of a penny is used to increase the price of a tank of gas, without ‘increasing the price’.

A half of a point is used by guys living in a warm, dry climate to take money from others that come to their town to have fun and spend money.   

Either way, it is the most diabolical way to take people’s money through the use of fake numbers since Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns closed their doors.

Half of a point is nothing, yet it changes everything.

This weekend, both conference championship games are sitting at a 3.5 point spread. A 3 point spread and if you like the favorite (which I do), you feel confident in picking them.  A field goal win, is at worst a push. But now, with the 3.5 point spread, the game winning field goal that elicits such massive celebrations in a hometown is just complete torture for the gambler. Your team won and you still lost money.

All because of that f*#%ing half of a point.

After a phenomenal Wild Card weekend (6 and 2) and a great Saturday of the divisional round (3 and 1), the odds finally caught up with me on Sunday. With the Seahawks playing more like Seagulls, and the Patriots playing like Pat from Saturday Night Live, I limped home 1-3, bringing my two week total to 10 and 6.

Not bad at all but nearly enough to fund a Mercedes and all those high priced call girls I will need to fully live the Matthew McConaughy lifestyle once I move to Vegas. Oh well, this week is my chance to go for broke.

And it will all come down to those damn half of a points.

NFC Championship – Packers at Bears

(First Half: Packers -3, Full Game: Packers -3.5)

Each of the last two weeks I have compared the Packers game to a FSU game from the past and even if not truly accurate of how the game was played, have swayed the gods to the outcome I want. Why stop a good thing when it is working?

This game reminds me of the FSU/Miami game from this past season. Two historical rivals with equivalent records. One team playing at home has a highly touted quarterback with past turnover problems, a well thought of defense and a questionable offensive line. The visitors are led by a solid, smart quarterback and athletic defense. Once the game started, the visitors surprised the home team with an unexpectedly strong running game. The visitor’s defense stuffed the home offense and the home team’s quarterback reverted to his turnover happy ways and the visiting team slowly turned the game into a rout.

That FSU 45-17 win in Miami was a good night. Let’s hope a Packers win is just as good.

Unlike FSU jumping on the Canes early, I think this game is close early. These teams have played twice this season already; there are few surprises left. With poor field conditions and cold temperatures, neither offense gets much going in the first half.

It seems to me that if the experts think this is a 3.5 point game, the halftime spread should be roughly half that (yes, I am a Will Hunting like math genius). But it is 3. And the full game is 3.5. I think you have to take the ‘free’ 1.5 points the Bears give you at that spread, regardless of your belief that Jay Cutler could have more than 3.5 interceptions at the half.

Let’s call it a 10-10 tie at halftime.

In the second half, I think the Packers find a way to begin moving the ball using their new found running game and out-of-nowhere running back James Starks. Starks wears down the Bears defensive line and Aaron Rodgers starts finding receivers on open intermediate routes (as linebackers come up to support the line). On the other hand, Cutler starts pressing and forcing passes to try and keep pace. Much like smiling or acting like an adult, forcing passes isn’t his strong suit. Clay Matthews has both a crushing sack and interception and the Packers put away the Bears.

Final score: Packers 27-20

AFC Championship – Jets at Steelers

(First Half: Steelers -3, Full Game: Steelers -3.5)

The Jets have become my nemesis. Not only do I dislike their braggadocio ways (though I do like any excuse to say ‘braggadocio’ – it ‘s as close as I get to speaking a foreign language), but Rex’s foot fetish makes me self-conscious about the ugliness of my own feet.

Even worse they keep winning games that I am picking them to lose.

It is one thing to make me cheer against you or make me cringe at the hammer toes I have sitting inside my shoes. It is quite another to make me be wrong. My ego can’t take that kind of repeated beating. In that way I am like a girl meeting Ben Roethlisberger.

However, while the Jets keep going against me, at the same time, could I really survive the next 3 days with the thought of taking Mark Sanchez to win in Pittsburgh?

Sounds like a recipe for 3 days of sleepless nights.

I will set aside personal feelings (to revisit them as part of THH on Friday) and go with the brain on this one.

In a presumably cold, dreary first half with 2 good defenses, I can’t envision much scoring (though a first half Over/Under of only 19.5 is awfully tempting). With the same logic as the NFC title game, I can’t pass up the extra 1.5 points that Vegas seems to be giving on that first half line. Give me the Jets and the points.

Let’s say this one is 14-13 Steelers (see that Over isn’t too hard to achieve is it?)

In the second half, it is more of the same. Big Ben treating the Jets defense like a drunk co-ed. Troy Polamalu treating Sanchez like a split end.

Sanchez has actually proven himself to me. If this is a 3 point game with 3 minutes to play and the Jets have the ball, I am actually starting to believe Sanchez can lead them to a win. So, this isn’t a vote against Sanchez. Rather it is a vote against his supporting cast. I am much more likely to believe that Braylon or LaDainain or Cromartie make a fatal mistake than I am Polamalu, James Harrison or Big Ben.

Call it a final score: 31-21 Steelers.

A Steeler / Packer Super Bowl?

That is one blue-collar multi-billion dollar event.

Or, as some might say, a bazillion dollar event.

Today the NFL powers-that-be voted to change the overtime rules, so that in the postseason, the loser of the OT coin toss will still be granted one posession if the winner of the coin toss scores only a field goal.

Obviously, there is only one man to thank.

No, not Roger Goodell silly. Though his support and lobbying helped gain the number of votes required to pass the measure, Roger is merely a foot soldier to the real power behind the NFL.

Brett Favre.

After massive out-cry from the press that their favored son was never given an opportunity to throw yet another game-ending NFC championship interception, it finally became convenient for the NFL to recognize the long-held truth that field goal kickers are better today than they were when the OT rules were put in place thirty plus years ago.

Goodell has been in the commissioner’s office for almost 4 years. The statistics for improved accuracy of field goals and the impact of moving the kick-off spot back 5 yards have been availble for longer than that.

The only difference between a year ago at this time and today – beside Obama’s finally passing some legislation – is that Brett Favre failed on the biggest stage and helped shine a spotlight  on the problem for his media apologists to rail against.

In this view, Brett didn’t throw away the NFC Championship when he threw that interception in the final minutes that ended what should have been the game winning drive for the Vikings. No, it is the arcane OT rules that kept Brett from the Super Bowl.

I have long joked about the massive crush many in the media harbor for the Wrangler-wearing, gun-slinger from Mississippi. But never did I imagine the NFL would actually change the rules to help off-set his inevitable post-season failure.

Mea culpa, Brett. I shall never doubt your power again.

When was the last time that the NFC was the more exciting conference than the AFC? The Rams ‘greatest-show-on-turf’ days? The Cowboys/Forty-Niners rivalry? Whatever team you choose the real answer is ‘it has been a long time’.

Yet, thanks to two high powered offenses in the NFC and one defense-run oriented major underdog in the AFC, the NFC title game looks to be much more entertaining and fun this weekend.

After a decade of AFC superiority anchored by the quasi-dynasties of the Patriots, Colts and Steelers could the pendulum be swinging back to the NFC? While the Vikings (thanks to putting all their eggs in an old, back-stabbing, egotistical basket) may only be real challengers for just a year or two, the Saints, Cowboys, and even the Giants or Eagles (if they don’t get too fancy and let McNabb go) could be challengers for years. On the other side, the Patriots are showing their age, the Chargers can’t get over the hump (and lost the LT-dominating running game) and the Colts are 100% reliant on a 33 year old quarterback.

So, is this the turning point? Are we looking at a sustained NFC run like their 14 straight Super Bowls from the mid-80’s to the late 90’s (How ‘bout them Broncos)?

Hardly. Look at the AFC dominated ‘aughts’. Those years still saw the Bucs win a Super Bowl, the Giants win a Super Bowl and the refs decide that the Steelers deserved a Super Bowl more than the Seahawks.

Every year we see a team or two rise up and join the elite teams (at least temporarily). I just don’t think we are going to see a team or a conference completely dominate like the 80’s Forty-Niners, 90’s Cowboys,70’s Steelers or even to a lesser extent the 00’s Patriots.

Global warming doesn’t become a myth because the country has a cold snap, if we have a year every now and then when there is a small group of very dominant teams that doesn’t mean that there is no more parity among the teams.

Didn’t you see The Day After Tomorrow? Paradoxically, global warming could actually lead to the climates of the globe shifting further south and dropping the U.S. into a deep freeze.

This is the equivalent of abysmal, perennial loser franchises like the Lions, Rams, Redskins and Chiefs proving parity.

Don’t question me, it is just science. You can look it up.

Speaking of movies (Segue warning!), we are making this the second annual Golden Globe-Championship weekend THH in which we use movies from (filmed in or based in) each home town to determine who to cheer on.

Unfortunately Turner, isn’t really able to provide much commentary this week, so I am just including his picks with little context. Apparently his boss doesn’t realize how important this THH is. Priorities, priorities.  

Shadow: At the beginning of the NFL Season, there were a couple of things I knew for sure:  the Broncos were not going to make the playoffs, Cutler would not suddenly turn into John Elway, and the Brett Favre experiment in Minnesota would end badly.  Well, two out of three ain’t bad.  If we end up with a Saints/Colts Super Bowl who will Archie Manning cheer for?  In spending my fictional winnings from last weekend’s betting, I will now parlay my winnings into laying it back down on the Vikings and Jets and taking the points.  Now on to the annual Siskel and Ebert NFL Championship Game Weekend THH.

AFC Championship – Jets @ Colts

SD: When I started looking for movies to signify this game, of the 567,743 movies filmed in or about New York I quickly decided on The Thomas Crown Affair, which felt appropriate since I just watched it and once used quotes from it to frame an argument here on the site. For Indiana I decided on Eight Men Out. This was fitting to me because when combined with TTCA it actually provides a nice parallel to this game. One of these shouldn’t be here because I don’t know anything about it. The other is an old reliable. A staple. I have never actually seen all of Eight Men Out so it doesn’t make sense to include them here, and have seen TTCA more times than I can count. Sort of like the Jets and Colts – the Jets have no business here after appearing to be mediocre all season, while the Colts are practically always here. So even though TTCA represents New York, it is actually more like Indianapolis. This is making my head hurt even though I swear it made sense at one point. There is a quote in TTCA: “I hope it’s not because you find my company monotonous.” Which would actually be pretty fitting for Peyton Manning to say to AFC fans.  Because of that and how much I enjoy TTCA I say, J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets.

Turner: Hoosiers vs. Sleepless in Seattle.  Ollie and Jimmy will win this every time

Shadow: So many quality movies to choose from.  New York may be considered by some to be the Media Capital of the world, and to be sure there have been many excellent movies filmed there, alas, for the Jets, although they say ‘New York’, they play in East Rutherford, New Jersey.  Sadly, that town can’t even offer up a sports movie into the equation…the best it can do is Highlander (if you are a girl, or Turner, substitute When Harry Met Sally).  As someone once said, ‘There can be only one’, and in this battle Indy clearly wins with Hoosiers and Eight Men Out.

NFC Championship – Vikings @ Saints

SD: I looked through a list of Minnesota based movies and one jumped off the page at me – Mystery Science Theater 3000. I stand by an earlier assertion that MST3k does not get the credit it should for its impact on pop culture. Do we have Beavis and Butthead, Pop-Up Video or that bad ESPN Classic show with the Sklar brothers without MST3k? We would be a lesser society without 2 of those. For New Orleans, there was only one choice. Similar to the previous match-up, if I used a quote from a movie as a title to a post, it has to be the representative here. That is really the only fair way to do it. Therefore I am going with The Pelican Brief. It may not have had the cultural importance of MST3k (at least in my mind) but it was pretty entertaining and may go down as the best of the Grisham movies – though that is like saying that it is the best of the Alvin and Chipmunk franchise. Well, on a historically important weekend, we have to go with the historically important movie. Sure, it isn’t as good as the TV show but most likely these games will disappoint as well, so that can’t be held against it. Viking power! This is the paradox of the Theme THH – I don’t want to cheer for the Vikings but by the rules I must.

Damn you, Brett you win again.

Turner: Options for Minnesota (w/o research): The Mighty Ducks, Fargo, and Grumpy Old Men  vs. Pelican Brief, A Street Car Named Desire, Double Jeopardy (OOOOO ASHLEY JUDD), Possibly every vampire movie ever made.   Ashley has to push this one over for me while Fargo almost pushed Favre to the top; too bad Emilio neutralized that…. 

Shadow: The Vikings bring it strong with Mallrats, High Fidelity, With Honors, and Backdraft.  The Saints counter with Glory Road, Blown Away, and Live and Let Die.  With all due respect to Don Haskins and Bond, James Bond, it would take a lot more to take it over Jason Lee’s Brodie and this memorable exchange (or at least memorable to those of us who have ever been pestered by a mom or girlfriend or wife over a video game, especially one that we have paused and resumed hours later):

[Brodie picks up a controller and continues a paused video game]
Rene: What are you doing? You promised me breakfast.
Brodie: Breakfast, shmreakfast. Look at the score, for Christ’s sake. It’s only the second period and I’m up 12 to 2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, “the Whale,” they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime.

 Go Favrians!