Wildcard Round Playoff Predictions

It's snowy, I'm sick and I just want to get this over with ... lol. Here are my quick picks for this weekend's Wildcard Round:

JETS OVER BENGALS: I'm not going by the paranoia here in The Nati that the Bengals have no shot to win this game. I think they have a great shot and that what happened Sunday night doesn't portend what will happen on Saturday. However, the cold and snow at Paul Brown Stadium lends to a game that is won in the trenches, on defense and with a solid running game. New York is just better than the Bengals in all of those phases ... especially with Cedric Benson banged up. Jets 24-Bengals 14

COWBOYS OVER EAGLES: I think this game will be a bit closer than Sunday's, but not by much. I've not been as impressed with Philly as seemingly everyone else has been this year. Dallas, as much as I hate it, is playing their best football in years. Cowboys 31-Eagles 14

RAVENS OVER PATRIOTS: Should be the best game of the lot. New England just has too many injuries and losing Wes Welker makes an already great Ravens defense a lot more stout. I know it's tough to count Tom Brady out, but Baltimore nearly won in New England earlier this year. Ravens 20-Patriots 13

PACKERS OVER CARDINALS: This is a game I just don't know how it will turn out. You never ... EVER ... know what you are going to get out of Arizona. They could come in here and lay a complete egg like they've done in several spots during the year. Or they could come in and blow the roof off the joint like they've done at other points. I'm going with what I do know: Aaron Rodgers has quietly been an elite passer this year and the Cards have some big injury concerns in their secondary. Packers 34-Cardinals 24

So, according to my picks I have Ravens at Colts, Jets at Chargers, Packers at Saints and Cowboys at Vikings. Wow! Four awesome games!

"NBA Jam" Coming Back?

Word is that there will be a new NBA Jam game coming soon. Awesome! But will it work?

Let's go back a bit. Anyone in their 20s and 30s should know NBA Jam pretty well. It blew up in 1993 and arcades and game consoles were addicted. Me, I was in high school and college then and I remember hitting the arcades with my buddy and having those huge two-on-two matchups with complete strangers. It was great. I also had the game on Super Nintendo and Sega CD (remember that?).

It would be cool to see a new one. The only guy that may be in both the old version of the game and the new one is Shaquille O'Neal. Now we'll get to see those monster jams by LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. We see rim rockers from Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett and Blake Griffin. Now there are three more teams (Memphis, Toronto, Charlotte) than there were back then.

But will it work? Hard to say. Arcades are gone since everyone has arcade-quality systems in their homes. I can sit at home and play the game on PS3 on an HDTV. Still, I think it will have a place ... especially among people like me who remember the fun we used to have playing it.

So who should be the two-man teams for each franchise?

BOSTON: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett
NEW JERSEY: Devin Harris, Brook Lopez
NEW YORK: Nate Robinson, David Lee
PHILADELPHIA: Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand
TORONTO: Jose Calderon, Chris Bosh

ATLANTA: Joe Johnson, Josh Smith
CHARLOTTE: Raymond Felton, Stephen Jackson
MIAMI: Dwyane Wade, Michael Beasley
ORLANDO: Vince Carter, Dwight Howard
WASHINGTON: Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison

CHICAGO: Derrick Rose, Luol Deng
CLEVELAND: LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal
DETROIT: Ben Gordon, Charlie Villenueva
INDIANA: Danny Granger, Troy Murphy
MILWAUKEE: Brandon Jennings, Andrew Bogut

DALLAS: Jason Terry, Dirk Nowitzki
HOUSTON: Aaron Brooks, Yao Ming
MEMPHIS: OJ Mayo, Zach Randolph
NEW ORLEANS: Chris Paul, David West
SAN ANTONIO: Tony Parker, Tim Duncan

DENVER: JR Smith, Carmelo Anthony
MINNESOTA: Johnny Flynn, Al Jefferson
OKLAHOMA CITY: Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant
PORTLAND: Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge
UTAH: Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer (or Paul Millsap if you think Booz is gone)

GOLDEN STATE: Monta Ellis, Corey Maggette
LA CLIPPERS: Baron Davis, Blake Griffin
LA LAKERS: Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol
PHOENIX: Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire
SACRAMENTO: Tyreke Evans, Kevin Martin

Breaking Down ESPN Magazine's "31 New Rules"

The latest ESPN The Magazine has an interesting article about changing sports. They are doing what all of us sports nuts have done at some point or another: lay out our list of changes if we were the Czar Of All Sports.

I'm going to look at the list of 31 and rank how I feel about them in order.

No. 1 - MANDATE UNIVERSAL REPLAY (ESPN's #1): I'm in full agreement here. I love tradition, but I also know that we live in an age where you can sit at home and instantly replay anything at any time. We live in an age where fans sitting at the stadium can instantly watch a replay on the gigantic video screens. So why not let the leagues have those same tools to correct wrong calls?

-SCRAP THE ALTERNATE POSSESSION RULE (ESPN #5): I hate the arrow in college basketball. Jump it up!

-LET HIGHER SEEDS PICK PLAYOFF FOES (ESPN #16): I'm big on this one too. The Colts and Saints should be able to pick their opponent next week. The Patriots and Cowboys should be able to do so this week. I think the same thing should happen in the baseball playoffs.

-UNIFY FOOTBALL'S RULES (ESPN #8): I like this. The NFL and college have too many rule differences. Keep the NFL's rule on down by opponent contact and keeping two feet inbounds. Keep college's wide hashmarks and lack of a two-minute warning.

-SEED NBA PLAYOFFS WITHOUT REGARD FOR CONFERENCE (ESPN #15): I've been big on this for a long time now. During much of the last decade, the Western Conference Finals has been the de-facto title tilt. Have all six division champions make it in, along with the 10 next best teams. Seed them one to 16 and have them play regardless of geography.

-ENFORCE EXISTING RULES (ESPN #30): Yes! Enforce the rules that already on the books before .

-NO DH (ESPN #22): Love it. I hate that guys can make a career out of just being a hitter and nothing else. Pitchers need to hit!

-BAN THE WHIP (ESPN #28): Jockeys should not be allowed to beat a horse with a stick -- it's animal cruelty!!!

-LIMIT CATCHER VISITS (ESPN #4): I think we all can get behind this one.

-MAKE FALL EASIER (ESPN #29): Basically they want more playoff teams in baseball. I'd like that too.

-DROP THE DROPPED THIRD STRIKE (ESPN #23): I don't see why catchers have to throw out a guy when he drops the third strike.

-CHANGE FIELD DIMENSIONS (ESPN #13): This will never happen because it means dumping several rows of those high priced seats. But it does stand to reason that our playing fields need to be made bigger. A bigger court would make basketball more fun. A larger field would be awesome for football. But it ain't happening.

-MAKE PITCHERS PITCH AND HITTERS HIT (ESPN #3): Make pitchers have to pitch once they get on the rubber. Make hitters have to hit once they get in the batters box. No stepping off the mound or stepping out of the box.

-ALLOW 30 SECONDS OF PENALTY-FREE TD CELEBRATION (ESPN's #10): Love this. Let these guys have fun when they score a TD. We are!

-TOSS GOLF'S SCORECARDS (ESPN #7): I see you working. Same as instant replay, we live in a time where a golfer's score is instantly on a gazillion websites. Why should they bother keeping their own score when a freakin' camera follows them around at all times? There's nothing better than someone signing a scorecard that contains an error and become disqualified.

-FIVE MINUTE PENALTY FOR FLOPPERS (ESPN #25): This is for soccer, folks. But how much better would soccer be if it wasn't filled with guys falling down as if they were just shot.

-LET MMA FIGHTERS ATTACK DOWNED FOES (ESPN #18): Remember when MMA was raw and violent? Still is, but not to that extent. Now if an MMA fighter gets into trouble, he falls to the canvas and his opponent cannot kick or stomp them. Let 'em!

-NO FOULING OUT (ESPN #19): I get it, but don't like it. I think that if there was no real penalty for fouling, then the game will get more violent and ugly.

-STANDARDIZE TRUNK LENGTH (ESPN #11): I'm not a fan of boxers who wear their shorts and protective padding near their nipples.

-CONTRACT 40-MAN ROSTERS (ESPN #9): Yeah, there's nothing better than watching a mid-September contest between the Brewers and Padres and seeing both managers use a ton of pinch hitters and relief pitchers. Still, over half of the league uses this time to bring up their top prospects to get big league experience.

-ALLOW A LITTLE ROUGHING THE PASSER (ESPN #21): I agree that QBs have it easy nowadays. While I'm not big on roughing the passer, these guys don't need to be handled with white gloves.

-IT AIN'T OVER ... (ESPN #31): Basically it is a revamping the argument about overtimes in sports. I'm with it on shootouts (hate 'em), but little else.

-MAKE NASCAR DRIVERS EARN STARTING SPOTS (ESPN #14): I get why NASCAR automatically gives the top 35 point leaders a starting spot. Sponsors and ratings. What would happen if Dale Jr. doesn't qualify for a race? That ain't happening.

-ELIMINATE THE NBA'S AGE LIMIT (ESPN #12): I'm actually in favor of the age limit. Yeah, you don't get that first year of LeBron or Kobe ... but you also won't get stuck paying busts Kwame or Korleone.

-TWEAK THE NHL'S WAIVER SYSTEM (ESPN #27): I'm not knowledgeable about what happens in hockey's waiver rules.

-SEED 16 WORLD CUP TEAMS (ESPN's #6): I couldn't care less.

-SEED FOR SURFACE IN TENNIS (ESPN #17): Don't care about this, either.

-PERMIT FREE DROPS FROM FAIRWAY DIVOTS (ESPN #20): Nope. Still not caring.

-BRING BACK THE PERFECT TEN (ESPN #24): Figure skating? Come on!

-RETHINKING SOCCER SUSPENSIONS (ESPN #26): No one cares!

-SPIKE NFL PACE OF PLAY (ESPN's #2): Their solution is the limit offenses one huddle per set of downs and then shorten the play clock to 35 seconds. I like the thinking, but I'm not sure I'd like what the NFL would look like if this happened.

Looking Back on the Jim Zorn Era

The Jim Zorn Era ending this morning in Washington. While it's sad to see someone lose his job, it wasn't like no one saw this coming for months. So when we look back, what will Redskins history think of Zorn?

A complete mess.

It isn't all Zorn's fault. He never should have been hired to be the head coach in the first place. Remember that when Joe Gibbs retired, owner Daniel Snyder hired Zorn to be the offensive coordinator before even hiring a head coach. Instead of doing the sensible thing and hiring then defensive coordinator Gregg Williams for the gig, he ran off everyone and ... well, I don't know what he was trying to do. Two weeks after getting the coordinator job, Zorn was offered the head coaching job. Nice.

At his first news conference, Zorn said he was happy to be with the "black and maroon". Okay, he's a Seattle guy and probably didn't know much about the Redskins lore. But why did Zorn have on his plate the role of head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach? Zorn's highest level of coaching was quarterbacks coach in Seattle. Why give him too much to do?

Anyone could see that this was a recipe for disaster. But the Joe Gibbs Redskins left a lot of talent, a young quarterback that can be worked with and a stellar defense. When the Redskins shot out to a 6-2 record to begin the 2008 season ... and with Jason Campbell playing at an MVP level ... it all looked like one of the shrewdest moves Snyder ever made.

Then it all came crashing down. The Skins would go on to lose six of their final eight games and finish last in the highly competitive NFC East. There were some grumblings that Zorn may be fired as a plethora of big name coaches with Super Bowl experience hit the market. Zorn looked like he was in over his head and new leadership may be needed before he lost the team.

That had nothing on the 2009 season.

Zorn inherited the easiest beginning of a schedule that anyone has ever seen. After facing the Giants, they got the lowly Rams, Lions, Buccaneers, Panthers and Chiefs. In those six games, Washington's opponent walked into the stadium without a win on the season. The Giants, Lions, Panthers and Chiefs all recorded their first victory against the Redskins.

It was a horrible stretch. Not only did they end the Lions zillion game losing streak, they also barely beat the Rams (9-7) and Bucs (16-13). St. Louis finished the season with the league's worst record (1-15). Zorn was stripped of his play-calling duties, as they were given to recently hired consultant Sherman Lewis. It didn't help that the offense started showing life after this change was made.

Because the second half of the schedule was so brutal, this failure to capitalize on cupcakes doomed Zorn's future. The Redskins lost 10 of their last 12 games (though fighting valiantly from Weeks 10 to 14) and Zorn was a dead man walking.

Zorn's a nice guy and I think he'll land on his feet back to what he was: a QBs coach. He was quirky, entertaining and pretty humble. But he wasn't a good head coach. Still, it says a lot when your players keep on fighting for you ... which was happening late in the year. When Vinny Cerrato was fired and Bruce Allen named as his replacement, the writing was on the wall and the team just mailed it in.

Zorn's era ends with a 12-20 record ... the same as the disasterous Steve Spurrier era that preceeded Joe Gibbs second stint in DC. This was a franchise that hadn't had a head coach with a total losing record with the Skins since Bill McPeak from 1961-1965. Since Snyder took over, we haven't had a winning coach (six straight, if you are counting).

When we look back at Zorn, we'll see a guy that couldn't contain all the responsibilities laid upon him. We'll see a guy that cared and was passionate about his job during his time here. We'll see a guy that, despite all the swirling dark clouds surrounding him, was professional and kept plugging away.

The new coach isn't walking into an empty cupboard. The defense was one of the NFL's best this season and rookie LB/DE Brian Orakpo is a budding star. The problem will be on the offensive side where there really isn't anything to be hopeful about. Can Jason Campbell be a winning quarterback? Is Clinton Portis' career in the end stages? Can the young receivers make that third-year improvement we see from wideouts? Can they replace the entire offensive line?

The Redskins begin trying to answer those questions now.

We Will Have Several Rematches Next Weekend

This is a pretty weird happening. Next weekend, there will be three rematches of games that happened today ... the final day of the regular season. Even more odd is the fact that all three of those games were blowouts today. Not just blowouts -- two of them were shutouts. The winning teams won by a combined score of 94-7.

PACKERS AT CARDINALS: With Green Bay's 33-7 spanking of the Cardinals in Arizona today ensures these two will hook back up next weekend. Can the Packers dismantle the Cards like they did today? I say yes! We'll find out next Sunday. Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel.

EAGLES AT COWBOYS: Today they played for the NFC East championship. Next weekend, two teams will enter but only one leaves. The game will be back in Dallas where the Cowboys just blanked the Eagles, 24-0. These two face off again on Saturday night.

JETS AT BENGALS: This is the only one of the three rematches that takes place in a different stadium. After winning the final football game at Giants Stadium, the Jets will travel to Cincinnati to face the Bengals again. The tough thing is that these two teams played the last game of the regular season (the Sunday night game) and they'll be the very first game of the postseason (Saturday at 4:30p).

This has been a season filled with weird events.

-The Broncos became just the third team to start 6-0 and miss the playoffs.

-The Giants started 5-0 and missed the playoffs.

-The Saints were once 13-0 and the Colts were 14-0. They've lost all five games they've both played since then.

-The 5-11 Cleveland Browns finish the season with four consecutive wins.

-In four of their five wins this year, the Browns QBs threw for less than 100 yards in those games.

-The Dolphins and Steelers closed out the season against each other. Miami started 0-3, then went 7-3, then finished 0-3. After a 1-2 start, the Steelers won five straight, lost five straight, then closed out the season winning three straight.

-The Cowboys ended the season shutting out their last two opponents. That's the first time in franchise history that Dallas has recorded consecutive shutouts.

-Remember how it used to be that dome teams couldn't win a Super Bowl? Well, that went out the window when the St. Louis Rams and Indianapolis Colts won Super Bowls. This postseason will see a lot of indoor action. In the wildcard round this coming weekend, both NFC games will be in domes (the two AFC games will be played outdoors in Cincinnati and New England). Next weekend in the divisional round, three of the four games will be played in domes (New Orleans, Indianapolis, Minnesota).

Which NFL Head Coaches Will Lose Their Job This Week?

The NFL regular season ends today. Once all this happens, a week of firings and (maybe) hirings will commence. So who are the top candidates to get canned?

1-JIM ZORN, REDSKINS: Zorn has been a dead man walking for months. He was nearly fired in October and his replacement, Mike Shanahan, may already be in place. Zorn may have a future as an assistant in Cleveland.

2-PERRY FEWELL, BILLS: Fewell is only there on an interim basis as he replaced the fired Dick Jauron. Fewell is liked in the organization and may get a shot at keeping the job ... provided no one of note wants it. The newest rumor is that Bill Cowher has discussed the gig.

3-ERIC MANGINI, BROWNS: It's no secret that the Browns would love to can Mangini. The problem is that the high profile coaches don't want any part of this roster or organization. The lone thing that could save Mangenius is that there may be no one who wants to replace him. Mike Holmgren is now in charge and he'll want his own guy in there.

4-RAHEEM MORRIS, BUCCANEERS: Give Morris some credit as his team ended the season fighting. However, there has been some grumblings that the job is too big for him. There has been a rumor out there that Bill Cowher is interested in Tampa.

5-JACK DEL RIO, JAGUARS: Del Rio has barely held onto the job the past couple of offseasons. It will be tough for him to hold on again. The Jags surprised many people by surging into great playoff position. But a rocky end to the season quickly eliminated them and began the speculation about Del Rio.

6-TOM CABLE, RAIDERS: When Al Davis makes the decisions, who knows what to expect. The Raiders have performed decently despite the horrid play of JaMarcus Russell.

7-LOVIE SMITH, BEARS: Hard to believe that Smith would be on the hot seat since only he and Mike Ditka have taken Chicago to Super Bowls. But there wasn't any hurry to sign him to an extension and it looks like he, along with the general manager, may be shown the door.

Remembering When New Year's Day Meant Something

If you are over the age of 15 years old, you remember when New Year's Day was one of the biggest day in sports. We were treated to a smorgasbord of college football with several of the games meaning so much.

Back then, the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl were all held on the same day. All of them. Now we get just a couple of them and then we give the others their own special night. Thank god that the Rose Bowl values some tradition and still stays on New Year's Day.

We also had several other bowls. Like the Cotton Bowl (which used to be a big game), Citrus Bowl (now the Capital One Bowl), Hall Of Fame Bowl (which is now the Outback Bowl) and Gator Bowl. All those bowls just littered all the networks on January 1st. And back then, more than one actually had national championship implications.

I mean, if we did that today, we would have the Rose Bowl with Ohio State vs Oregon, Sugar Bowl with Alabama vs TCU, Orange Bowl with Georgia Tech vs Cincinnati and Fiesta Bowl with Texas vs Boise State. Florida would have most likely been in the Citrus Bowl against, say, Penn State. Yeah, we now get to see Texas and Alabama face off head-to-head, but the other bowls are essentially meaningless. Um, there are five undefeated teams left and three of them know there's no chance they can win a National Championship. If we had the bowl set up like we did back then, only the Rose Bowl wouldn't have title implications this year.

Now we get 34 bowls and a "BCS Championship game" (note that it isn't a National Championship game). Can we get a playoff???