Remember when we used to make predictions on here?

It sure has been a wild season in the NFL, but that probably pales in comparison to the ups and downs we’ve experienced here at Joboo.  We started off by offering you Lance’s Stone Cold Locks of the Week, and despite the bravado cold was the only adjective that accurately described Lance’s ability to correctly predict NFL winners.  I would like to say that we were all a little broken up by Lance ending his tenure as pickmaster, but to be honest it saved us from having to apologize for how bad the picks were.  Then we moved on to letting the Champ in addition to his Bold Predictions starting flexing his NFL picking muscle.  Predictably, those NFL picks turned out about as well as the Detroit Tigers World Series experience. We even went as far as to let my girlfriend THROW HATCHETS in an attempt to bring you accurate NFL picks. However the regular season ended without a clear choice for who should be making picks for us.

Joboo Co-founder Doug even took a stab at making picks in the playoffs, and quickly went 0-4 bookending the shortest tenure of NFL predictions thus far on the website.  I’ve somehow managed to stay sane enough to avoid publicly making predictions, aside from my correct call in the NFC Championship game, and if I were smarter than I am I would retire 1-0. (Forgetting of course my preseason NFL predictions that may best be described as “putrid”) But really, what are the chances of THAT happening.

In memory: Barbaro, 4/19/03 – 1/29/07

BARBARO, the American leader and winner of the Kentucky Derby, was born on some farm in either Kentucky or Pennsylvania. A brilliant runner and mudder, whose insistence upon nonviolence in the Gandhian tradition accounted for the success of the movement, Barbaro was assassinated on January 29, 2007, in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, by a white man.

I have bad news for you, for all our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that BARBARO was operated on and killed tonight.

BARBARO dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.

HOW ‘BOUT THEM SAINTS???

We all knew it was going to happen, but it still had to be seen to be believed. The New Orleans Saints walked into Soldier Field and proceeded to walk all over the helpless Chicago Bears. For a franchise that had never even made it to the Super Bowl, this coronation was long overdue. Still grappling with the after effects of Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana needed these Saints, hell, the whole country outside of Chicago needed this team. The imaginative play calling of rookie, and coach of the year, head coach Sean Payton was inspired, and matched only by the unparrelled offensive talent of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, Deuce McCallister and the bevy of talented wide recievers. Brees proved why he is the best quarterback in the league, and Reggie Bush solidified why he should have been the number one overall pick as he proved the Bears defense to be slow and unathletic. But after all, this is what the experts all predicted from the start.

WAIT A SECOND. . . .That’s not what happened at all. God dammit, I know I shouldn’t write these damn things beforehand.

I Really Didn’t Want to Have to Say This, but. . . .

I fear I have no choice at this point.  THE HELL WITH KATRINA.  There, I said it, and you know what it feels GREAT.  I have been kind of avoiding ESPN’s NFL coverage since last Sunday because I knew that the feel good story of the year would be permeating the airwaves.  I really should have continued that policy, but for whatever reason I decided to check out the ESPN’s “expert” picks.  You can take a look for yourself, but I’ll save you the trouble.  NOT ONE OF THEM, NOT A SINGLE GOD DAMN ONE, THINK THE BEARS ARE GOING TO WIN THIS SUNDAY!!!!!!!!

HOW THE HELL DOES MLS HAVE $250 MILLION?

David Beckham coming to MLS is not all that surprising…that MLS has the capability to add a 0 to the dollar amount on a 5 year/25million dollar contract shocks the hell out of me. With 250mill over 5 years, can’t they convince ESPN to…I don’t know…SUFFOCATE us with highlights? Pay ABC to show more games in better timeslots? PROMOTE THE SPORT?

Two Hundred and Fifty million damn dollars…the MLS had that?

As for what Beckham will do in MLS…

Who the hell knows. Probably play in a lot of games that people in America will not watch. This move probably makes MLS more popular Internationally and maintains the status quo of Americans not giving a damn. Is it worth 250 million just to have International sentiment towards the MLS go from…

“Well, I don’t know anything about the league, I hear it’s terrible” to “wow, that MLS sure is terrible.”

UPDATE: Some dude from MLS on these dollars…”That’s a separate deal. That’s his deal with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and 19 Entertainment. That’s not something we’re involved in.”

That is very good to know. Earlier today I pretty much assumed that the MLS folks knew the world was coming to an end in 5 years, so they felt like kicking around all their money.

NFL Wild Card Playoff Predictions

First, let me make it completely clear that these are by no means LOCKS or anything of that nature. I try not to make specific predictions a lot, mainly because I could care less about being correct about what I’m talking about. I’m going to run my mouth, tell you what I think, make my arguments and be wrong a lot. That’s fine, I’m holding myself out to be no better than anyone else. Predictions are completely different because they are so easily to tabulate and  results are pretty much instant.  Plus, we tried that once on this blog and Lancer did, well, terrible.

That being said, I once went 11-0 on NFL Playoff predictions against the spread. Ran the table from wild card to Super Bowl. The snag? Did it on some messageboard with not much fanfare, and more to the point…NO MONEY INVOLVED.  Which some might say means that the run did not count, still, it was on my resume for a couple of months nonetheless.

So, if you another Predictions post out of me next week, you’ll know I went 4-0. If it doesn’t show up, don’t be surprised.

My winners in bold, Sir Gilbert style with the lead in…

Hibachi…INDIANAPOLIS 7 over Kansas City (4:30 PM ET)
Weber Q120 Gas Grill…SEATTLE 3 over Dallas (8:00 PM ET)

Sunday, January 7:

Old School Charcoal…NEW ENGLAND 8.5 over N.Y. Jets (1:00 PM ET)
Rotisserie…PHILADELPHIA 7 over N.Y. Giants (4:30 PM ET)

For more on the reasoning, click it…

So, the Dolphin folk seem bitter today…

”He has run away from the challenge,” Shula told the Miami Herald. ”It’s unbelievable. There were four or five direct statements that were blatant lies. That tells you a little bit about the guy.”

And it also tells you that Shula is bitter as hell.

God forbid a guy, who by many accounts did not even want to go to pro football and only did so when the offer was one he couldn’t refuse and was persistently talked into, goes to a place for two years…WINS MORE GAMES THAN HE SHOULD HAVE, puts a team in a position to compete now and clears salary cap space.

The Saban bashing is a joke. He’s not loyal, he’s running away from a challenge. Yeah, the hell with that.

Are you kidding me?

Boise State was not supposed to be here…in the BCS…with the big boys. But yet there they were…and they were competitive…and then they made one mistake with less than two minutes to go that should have finished them. This is a team that wasn’t given much of a shot to begin with, played a fairy-tale game…then in a matter of an instant were placed on the Gallows, but unlike you know who…THEY DID NOT DIE.

The HELL with Brett Favre

Ok, this really isn’t about Brett Favre so much as the Bears. Really, despite being a Bear’s fan, or maybe because I’m a Bears fan, I respect the hell out of Brett. Sure, the media coverage is a bit overdone, but you can’t blame him for that. He just goes out and competes at a very high level. He’s done it for a long time, and it’s been at such a high level that no matter his teammates and no matter his opponent he ALWAYS has a chance to win. So, basically in that statement all my fustration as a Bears’ fan should be obvious.

Really, I mean how hard can it be to play quarterback in the NFL. On second thought, it’s probably pretty hard, and really I guess I shouldn’t be too angry at Rex and Brian. A better question should probably be, “how hard is it to find a guy to play quarterback that won’t KILL your team?” I’m not even saying you should expect to find a great quarterback every time you go out looking for one. I’m sure lots of teams passed on some hillbilly from Southern Mississippi with a strong arm. A lot of times stumbling into a franchise quarterback is how it’s going to be done. Sure you can look at Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer as franchise type guys that were drafted high with good pedigrees. But last time I checked Ryan Leaf had a pretty decent college career. So why are franchise killing quarterbacks out there? I have the answer, and it’s easier than you might think.