A lot went down in the world of college football yesterday. Yesterday was the most action-packed, exciting, and thrilling NFL Championship Sunday in recent memory. The first title game, the AFC Championship Game, almost went into overtime and had all of the classic American sports archetypes including "the player with something to prove," "the grizzly, old veteran that we're cheering for," and of course "the goat." And boy, that second game - the NFC Championship Game - was the "Whole Freakin' Show!" That game was non-stop, action-packed as well, but here's the thing about that game: as a Redskins fan, I was asking myself, "why the heck could we not be in that position?" I mean, the Redskins beat the Giants twice in the regular season. Also, why did we get rid of Carlos Rogers (I'm happy for that dude and he really played the game of his life)? I'll get back to both of these games in a moment, but first I need to express my feelings on Joe Paterno's passing:
The Passing of Joe Paterno
I'll just say this regarding Joe Pa's role in the ongoing Penn State Child Abuse Scandal: Coach Paterno was in the wrong and he should have done more; he admitted this himself.
With that said, a person's entire life should not be defined by his or her worst moment. That's not to say one's missteps should not be dismissed, but rather they should not be all-encompassing when remembering a historic figure. And Joe Paterno is indeed a historic figure: two outright national championships, multiple coach of the year awards, 24 bowl wins (most all-time) 409 wins (most all-time in Division 1-A College Football). Joe Pa was on Penn State's coaching staff for 62 years - think about how many of young men he helped to mentor and develop... hundreds. Perhaps more importantly, this particular coach utilized football has a platform to promote education in that his players' four-year graduation rate regularly exceeded the national average and he often gave back to the Penn State community in the form of various donations, including helping to raise $13.5 million for the campus library.
My dad often tells me that before Joe Paterno, Penn State was just a "farm school." A lot of people say that Joe Paterno, was the reason that Penn State became a nationally recognized university - I'm not quite sure that this is the case. Instead, I'll just remember Joe Pa as a good coach and a good guy. My favorite Joe Paterno memory is the 2006 Orange Bowl: that game featured Joe Pa's Penn State Nittany Lions up against Bobby Bowden's Florida State Seminoles and the Lions won in triple-overtime, 26-23.
Rest in Peace Coach.
The AFC Championship Game
"The agony of defeat" - Part 1: Billy "sorry-butt should be cut later today" Cundiff
If you haven't seen this EPIC FAIL yet click here.
Ray Lewis (the grizzly, old vet) is one of my all-time favorite players. The first Madden game I ever brought was Madden 2005 with Ray Lewis on the cover. Ray Lewis is best defensive player since L.T. Lawrence Taylor. It goes without saying that I wanted the Ravens to win this game so that Ray would have one more shot to win the big one.
Of course, everyone knows that the weak link for the Ravens is their offense. Before the game, I was thinking about whether or not their QB Joe Flacco would either hurt the team or be a non-factor. As it turns out, Flacco probably produced the performance of his career with 306 yards, two touchdowns, and only one interception. In fact, I thought the Ravens had it with Lee Evans' near touchdown catch (he really should have caught that ball, but the coverage was good). So on 4th down of that final Baltimore, we were probably all thinking that the Ravens would be able to send the game into overtime with a simple 32 yard field goal... boy, we're we wrong.
Billy Cundiff
In sports, there are certain cliches that have a strong possibility of occurring. In this case, this was an example of the "the kicker whose name we don't know (nor do we care) missing the most important field goal of his career, of the season, and in franchise history." I mean, how many of us were asking ourselves "how the (expletive) did he miss that?" Or saying to ourselves (or aloud) "what the (expletive)?" Now, we all know his name (Billy Cundiff) and have seen the clip a few times over. But the truth of the matter is that we all knew, it could happen and it did. For me, the worst part is that some great players, Torrey Smith, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Ray Rice, and especially Ray Lewis won't get the chance to play in the Big Game... what a shame.
Oh, and Tom Brady and the Patriots are going to their 5th Super Bowl. Yay for them (at least we get to see coverage of Gisele in the stands).
The NFC Championship Game
"The agony of defeat" - Part 2: Kyle "how did you drop that... I mean really how did you (expletive) drop that" Williams
Before yesterday's NFC Championship Game, I did not think that Ted Ginn Jr. had any real value as a football player. He didn't really work out in Miami has a wide receiver. I actually knew was a decent punt/kick returner, but nothing like Devin Hester. But after this EPIC FAIL (click here), I bet 49ers' fans were wishing it would have been Ted Ginn Jr. returning that punt instead of Kyle Williams here.
I feel bad for two groups of people here:
Also, I need to give credit where its due: the Giants are a good, balanced team. The Giants' defensive line is still dominant, Victor Cruz has become a true #1 receiver, and Eli Manning,,, Eli is one of the "elite" QBs in the game. Eli plays a tough, old-school, never-say-die type of game and that's rare in today's NFL; even though I can't stand him (being in the same division as my Redskins), I respect the man and his game.
I feel bad here for former Maryland Terrapin Vernon Davis and former Redskin Carlos Rogers. Both of these dudes really came into their own this past season and played their hearts out throughout. It would have been nice to see them in the Big Game as well.
With that said, it'll be cool to see a rematch of sorts from one of the greatest Super Bowls ever played - Super Bowl XLII (it definitely had the greatest Super Bowl Play of All Time). Super Bowl XLVI (46) will also be a rematch from Week 9 earlier this season, in which the Giants defeated the Patriots 24-20. Tom Brady versus Eli Manning should make for a great QB showdown and the Giant defensive line will be a great test for the Patriots offense. This time around I'll take the same score, from that Week 9 game, but with a different result: Patriots over the Giants 24-20.
Thanks for reading! And let's get in just one more Billy Cundiff photo for good measure:
The Passing of Joe Paterno
I'll just say this regarding Joe Pa's role in the ongoing Penn State Child Abuse Scandal: Coach Paterno was in the wrong and he should have done more; he admitted this himself.
With that said, a person's entire life should not be defined by his or her worst moment. That's not to say one's missteps should not be dismissed, but rather they should not be all-encompassing when remembering a historic figure. And Joe Paterno is indeed a historic figure: two outright national championships, multiple coach of the year awards, 24 bowl wins (most all-time) 409 wins (most all-time in Division 1-A College Football). Joe Pa was on Penn State's coaching staff for 62 years - think about how many of young men he helped to mentor and develop... hundreds. Perhaps more importantly, this particular coach utilized football has a platform to promote education in that his players' four-year graduation rate regularly exceeded the national average and he often gave back to the Penn State community in the form of various donations, including helping to raise $13.5 million for the campus library.
My dad often tells me that before Joe Paterno, Penn State was just a "farm school." A lot of people say that Joe Paterno, was the reason that Penn State became a nationally recognized university - I'm not quite sure that this is the case. Instead, I'll just remember Joe Pa as a good coach and a good guy. My favorite Joe Paterno memory is the 2006 Orange Bowl: that game featured Joe Pa's Penn State Nittany Lions up against Bobby Bowden's Florida State Seminoles and the Lions won in triple-overtime, 26-23.
Rest in Peace Coach.
The AFC Championship Game
"The agony of defeat" - Part 1: Billy "sorry-butt should be cut later today" Cundiff
If you haven't seen this EPIC FAIL yet click here.
Ray Lewis (the grizzly, old vet) is one of my all-time favorite players. The first Madden game I ever brought was Madden 2005 with Ray Lewis on the cover. Ray Lewis is best defensive player since L.T. Lawrence Taylor. It goes without saying that I wanted the Ravens to win this game so that Ray would have one more shot to win the big one.
Of course, everyone knows that the weak link for the Ravens is their offense. Before the game, I was thinking about whether or not their QB Joe Flacco would either hurt the team or be a non-factor. As it turns out, Flacco probably produced the performance of his career with 306 yards, two touchdowns, and only one interception. In fact, I thought the Ravens had it with Lee Evans' near touchdown catch (he really should have caught that ball, but the coverage was good). So on 4th down of that final Baltimore, we were probably all thinking that the Ravens would be able to send the game into overtime with a simple 32 yard field goal... boy, we're we wrong.
Billy Cundiff
In sports, there are certain cliches that have a strong possibility of occurring. In this case, this was an example of the "the kicker whose name we don't know (nor do we care) missing the most important field goal of his career, of the season, and in franchise history." I mean, how many of us were asking ourselves "how the (expletive) did he miss that?" Or saying to ourselves (or aloud) "what the (expletive)?" Now, we all know his name (Billy Cundiff) and have seen the clip a few times over. But the truth of the matter is that we all knew, it could happen and it did. For me, the worst part is that some great players, Torrey Smith, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Ray Rice, and especially Ray Lewis won't get the chance to play in the Big Game... what a shame.
Oh, and Tom Brady and the Patriots are going to their 5th Super Bowl. Yay for them (at least we get to see coverage of Gisele in the stands).
The NFC Championship Game
"The agony of defeat" - Part 2: Kyle "how did you drop that... I mean really how did you (expletive) drop that" Williams
Before yesterday's NFC Championship Game, I did not think that Ted Ginn Jr. had any real value as a football player. He didn't really work out in Miami has a wide receiver. I actually knew was a decent punt/kick returner, but nothing like Devin Hester. But after this EPIC FAIL (click here), I bet 49ers' fans were wishing it would have been Ted Ginn Jr. returning that punt instead of Kyle Williams here.
I feel bad for two groups of people here:
- The 49ers Fans: These guys have put up with a lot since the glory days of Montana, Rice, and Young including a bad QB in Alex Smith, a bad coach in Mike Singletary (I love the man as a former Bears lineback, but he went 18-22 in the NFC West), and an ownership that just didn't really care about winning. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Jim Harbaugh comes in, Alex Smith becomes a decent NFL QB, and the team goes 13-3 into the NFC Championship Game. For a season to end on that note is awful.
- The 49ers' Defense: These guys did everything that they had to do in order to win. The 49ers' defensive players made every single stop that they needed to make at the end of the game. I would say that these dudes played winning football.
Also, I need to give credit where its due: the Giants are a good, balanced team. The Giants' defensive line is still dominant, Victor Cruz has become a true #1 receiver, and Eli Manning,,, Eli is one of the "elite" QBs in the game. Eli plays a tough, old-school, never-say-die type of game and that's rare in today's NFL; even though I can't stand him (being in the same division as my Redskins), I respect the man and his game.
I feel bad here for former Maryland Terrapin Vernon Davis and former Redskin Carlos Rogers. Both of these dudes really came into their own this past season and played their hearts out throughout. It would have been nice to see them in the Big Game as well.
With that said, it'll be cool to see a rematch of sorts from one of the greatest Super Bowls ever played - Super Bowl XLII (it definitely had the greatest Super Bowl Play of All Time). Super Bowl XLVI (46) will also be a rematch from Week 9 earlier this season, in which the Giants defeated the Patriots 24-20. Tom Brady versus Eli Manning should make for a great QB showdown and the Giant defensive line will be a great test for the Patriots offense. This time around I'll take the same score, from that Week 9 game, but with a different result: Patriots over the Giants 24-20.
Thanks for reading! And let's get in just one more Billy Cundiff photo for good measure:
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