VicVegas

Sorry, I haven't checked the thread in a while. Looks like I didn't miss much. Greg picked the winning team in the Super Bowl, and Joe made a bunch of posts putting him down for being right. Hmmmm, sounds familiar. What's funny is JK absolutely guaranteeing that Denver will not draft a QB. Greg is 100% right about Brady Quinn being on the way out. So who's gonna be Tebow's back-up? Yet Joe absolutely promises Donkey-Boy (Elway) wouldn't dare draft a QB. I hope JK gets a job in the Bronco front office soon. That would pretty much seal their fate for next season. More evidence of JK's vast football knowledge. The Giants were most certainly an underdog. They had the worst record of all the teams who made the NFC play-offs, and the Patriots had the best record in the AFC. Sounds like favorite vs underdog to me. I bet the Giants (+3 points) and won 500 baht, though I'm sure JK and buzz will come along now and explain how I actually didn't win. Congrats to The Mook, Your team played well. Eli is a stud and now has one more ring than his brother.

Tebow-mania sweeps into Indy. http://sports.yahoo....per-bowl-020212 Thank godness our Tebow expert, Buzz, made this statement earlier in this thread, so we know this article must be a fabrication: "Tebow is a tiny blip on the screen compared to Green Bay's popularity. Like I said, you've got Tebow so far up your ass you can't see straight. Step away from your emotions and look at it logically and then try to convince yourself he's incredibly popular throughout the country. Fact is Vic he's not the water-cooler item you've built him up in your mind to be." A few choice quotes from the article, which obviously can't be true: "Five feet away sat the center of attention, the quarterback who caused crowds to push up against barriers and crane their necks and hold their camera phones high and disregard Montana and the rest of the celebrities in this third-floor hotel ballroom." "Tebow needed two cops, an entourage of handlers and press agents and the focus that lets him barrel through a secondary just to get from one interview to the next. Everyone wanted a picture, an autograph a quick moment of his time. The cult of personality surrounding the man who became the story of the season as he led the Denver Broncos to repeated late-game victories shows no sign of slowing down." "As Tebow made the rounds, so too did everyone from Rodney Harrison to Curt Schilling to Papa John. It’s always a wild time. And yet there was nothing like the reaction to Tebow." Just a blip compared to Green Bay's popularity? The entire Packers team walking thru press row in uniform wouldn't have gotten half the response "Tebowner" did. Again my position on His Tebowness: Grossly over-rated and over-hyped, A walking advertisement for Christianity in an "aw-shucks" athletes body. I don't like him, but there's no denying his popularity among the ignorant massess.

This thread isn't a sports book. I didn't insert any money into my DVD drive. Nobody gave me a ticket. When I posted "Pats/Packers" MM didn't break in and say I had to get both teams right to win my bet. We're just guys talking about football, but you are so warped in your determination to make me look bad that you twist and bend every statement I make to fit your imaginary arguments, from your original objection to my use of the phrase "lost their way into the play-offs" to this. As for admitting my faults, I can and do. I admitted I was wrong about the Broncos/Steelers game and gave Tebow credit for playing well. Sound the "Incorrect" buzzer for Buzz. He's wrong again. I was right about one of the teams that made it to the Super Bowl, Buzz, and no amount of twisting or bending of words by you can change that. So sad that your self esteem seems to be tied to attacking me. Maybe you should get a hobby, . . . join a club, . . . I hear stamp collecting can be rewarding for people who have trouble with social skills. Maybe you should just turn off your computer until you learn how to handle the world of internet message boards, which don't strictly conform to "The Rules Of Buzz". Thanks, The Mook, for trying to get this thread back onto the Super Bowl. I don't know what the spread is, but I like the Giants.

The question was, "Who is going to play in the Super Bowl?". I said the Pats and the Packers. I got one of the teams right. It says a lot about your personality that you refuse to give me credit for that.

I lean towards cutting the Williams kid more slack than Cundiff. He was filling in as returner for Ted Guinn, who was injured, and he didn't have much experience in such high pressure situations. Of course that doesn't change the fact that he cost the 49ers the game. Cundiff, on the other hand, is a veteran and former pro-bowler. Like he said after the game, he has made that exact same field goal a 1000 times, but in the AFC Championship game with the seconds ticking down and an easy field goal standing between his team and OT, he simply choked. It wasn't quite a Scott Norwood or Jackie Smith choke, but it was close. No, Vic did not mention that. Vic mentioned this: Joe, do you understand the word "hypothetical"? MM and I are just speculating. Neither one of us accused anyone of fixing a game. We're just saying these two situations might lend themselves to a fix. You'd love to have someone lay out a game fixing plan so you could fill up several more posts in which you nit-pick it apart and claim that it could absolutely never, ever happen, in that pedantic/obsessive way you have. Guess what Joe - games have been fixed in the past. People have done it. It can be done. Your opinion on the likelihood of a fix is probably just as credible as your opinions about Andrew Luck being a loser and that the Super Bowl cannot not possibly ever get any bigger than it already is - in other words, you are not credible. Great, then let's just restrict it to our original Super Bowl Pick, which means I was 1-1 and you were 0-2. Not patting myself on the back (do you honestly think a .500 record is an ego boost? ), but after some of the drivel that has been posted here by two particular BMs (whom I shall not name at this time), I just wanted to point to a tangible fact-based indicator of who really knows what they're talking about concerning the NFL. Right now I'm hesitantly leaning towards the Giants.

Now that I have seen all the highlights I gotta say Billy Cundiff choked the game away for the Ravens. That was a chipshot field goal and he should have made it and sent that game to OT. Eli Manning was a man, taking much abuse from the 49er defense and getting up every time. He is a money player in big games. Giants are on a roll, but so are the Pats. Tough call . . .

My last post refers to our picks for the AFC and NFC championship games. V V = 2-0 BB = 0-2 If you want to talk about the picks we made before the play-offs began, then I was 1-1 (Pats/Packers) and you were 0-2 (49ers/Ravens). V V = 3-1 BB = 0-4 Add in my losses on Saints/49ers and Giants/Packers, and give you one for 49ers over Saints V V = 3-3 BB = 1-4 And lets not forget my Denver picks. I was 1-1, so it's a wash Did you even make a pick in those games? V V = 4-4 BB = 1-4 So I end up .500 and you end up .250 Looks like my average IS better than yours.

Further proof that Joe and Buzz . . . well, I guess there's no point in restating the obvious.

Obviously Joe, there is career success. Rodgers and Rothlesberger have been more successful at helping their team win NFL championships. They have rings and MVP awards. Their stats are ridiculously better than Tebow's. No comparison. Not even in the same ballpark. They are better quarterbacks than Tebow, much better, not even open for debate. Most of the quarterbacks in the league are better than Tebow . . . hell, most of the back-ups are better than Tebow. Yet there stands Joe, all alone, with his little homemade "Tebow was more successful" sign. Tebow was more successful at promoting a religion. He's got that on 'em. We are obviously not communicating. I want to "agree to disagree", but you won't let it drop. You say I should move on, but you also keep asking me to address topics you say I have ignored.. Which is? So here I am, once again trying to steer the thread back to an NFL topic: Tebow's huge popularity. The Media Matters website did a study on what topics the big TV news and opinion outlets covered in the past 3 months. Their goal was to show how the major news broadcasts had ignored the SOPA controversy. In that time period (roughly mid October thru mid January) there were 47 stories about the British Royal Family and 41 about Tim Tebow. While listening to an ESPN radio show the other day the announcers agreed that Tebow was the biggest story so far of the 2011 season. The latest stories about Tebow from the past 2 days: - He was playing injured during much of the Patriots game and had to go to the hospital on Monday - He turned down a request to be a color commentator for the AFC Championship game - He could be a replacement player for the Pro Bowl game Tebow-mania continues. My official picks for this weekend - Giants over 49ers, Pats over Ravens

Like I said, you seem to be more interested in bashing me than discussing the issue. Why all the hate and anger? Just because I point out the fact that the Broncos lost their last 3 games before entering the play-offs? Does it really bother you that I constantly mention Denver's losing streak and how they backed into the play-offs? Maybe it's the fact that I call them the Donkeys that upsets you? Does the notion that all this press and attention they've received is unwarranted, undeserved, and unearned, does that make you so angry that you have to hurl insults at me? I think you have issues, buzz. Maybe you should discuss this with your family physician.

Since "going after Luck" means pursuing him in the draft, which hasn't happened yet, you are wrong. It could still happen, though I personally think it's doubtful. Even if the Broncos were interested in getting Luck (and I think pretty much every team would like to have him), their chances are pretty slim. That's just my opinion, of course. I'm not going to say they don't have the guts to do it, as you claim. I wouldn't say it couldn't happen in any manner or for any reason no matter what, as you state. All I said, after watching Tebow's pitiful performance of his duties as quarterback, is that I bet Elway would like to replace Tebow with Luck. I still believe that. Even if you worked in the Broncos front office as Elway's assistant and were privy to their strategy for the up coming draft, you couldn't confidently state that the Broncos going after Luck couldn't happen "in any manner, for any reason, no matter what", because they still might change their mind on draft day. Once again a reckless statement by JK. But wait, there's more to come . . . No, I never said that anything was all about Luck. Please see above You know, another BM sent me a PM awhile back urging me to not feed the JK troll. When I read statements like the one above, I think he might be onto something. Tebow is more successful than Rodgers and Rothlesberger only in the very narrow sense of what they have each done in the past 3 weeks. This is similiar to someone saying Obama is a more successful President than Abraham Lincoln because he is alive right now and Lincoln is dead. In other words, it is a ridiculous statement

Denver "won" whatever tie-breaker it took to win the division. I think it was common opponents because they split with Oakland in head-to-head games and they both had the same inter-division record (3-3). I honestly can't be bothered to go look it up. I hate the Donkeys and they lost their last 3 games, so I will continue to say they lost their way into the play-offs. You don't like that? Oh well. Life is full of disappointments.

What I actually said was he was trying to figure out a way to get Andrew Luck (pure speculation on my part) because it was obvious to most football people that Tebow isn't a starting QB in the NFL. Then Tebow pulled out a dramatic win vs the best defense in the AFC, so now Elway is stuck with him until training camp, er, uh, I mean so lucky to have a winner like him on the roster. Hey maybe he'll learn to pass more consistently during the off season. I didn't answer because my initial comment about fixing the game was a harmless, not too serious comment. I didn't want to get into an indepth treatise on how to fix professional sports games. That's what YOU wanted to do.

Mostly internet highlights. NFL.com keeps updating them during games. You know me - poorly paid teacher that I am - I'm too cheap to invest much money. I listen to a lot of talk radio via the internet and read several sports sites to keep up on things.

You're more interested in telling me I'm wrong than discussing the topic. You were correct to mention SS, but you should have included Obsession as well - you have adopted their tactic of avoiding the issue and simply opting to bash me. Let's put it this way: The Broncos did basically the same thing the Seahawks did last season. They won a weak division and managed to win a play-off game against a superior opponent because they were playing at home. How did those Matt Hasselback jerseys sell? Was Hasselback the most popular player in the US at this time last year? Were GOP candidates scrambling to get Hasselback's endorsement? I don't remember CBS asking Hasselback to join them in the booth to lend his expert commentary on the AFC championship game, but that's exactly what they've offered Tebow. Elway just announced that Tebow will be his number one QB going into training camp. No surprise there. It also won't surprise me when they sign a fairly well tested QB as a "back-up". As for you Joe, ok, you're 100% right, there's no possible way the Super Bowl can get any bigger. There's also no way to fix an NFL game. Hey Joe, did you hear something? I think it's that other NFL thread calling you. Better get over there quickly. They need your keen expertise.

There are people in the US who don't watch the Super Bowl. It is played on Sunday, and many of those non-watchers are church-goers. If a couple hundred of them set up a TV at church to watch Reverend Tebow play, that would increase viewership and subsequently make the already big Super Bowl that much bigger. I think you are under-estimating the power of Christianity in America. Fixing sporting events has been done before and could be done again. You answered your own question - bribe the defense. Going into any more detail would take this thread even further off topic and simply give you an excuse to nitpick, which is what you do best. I would never dream of stealing your act. I think you are dead wrong. Tebow has been THE water cooler topic of the past 3 months, and you're blind if you can't see that. He is exactly what I have been saying he is: A mediocre NFL quarterback who has built a huge base of fans because of the way he wears his religious beliefs on his sleeve. That's the Tebow brand, and Americans have been eating it up. Hopefully the hysteria will die down now that the Donkeys are done, but you know it will resurface next summer. Back to the games, nice road win by the Giants. I was rooting for GB but also happy to see Eli Manning having success. So it's Pats vs Ravens and 49ers vs Giants. I think it's gonna be Pats vs Giants part 2 in the Super Bowl.

You seriously think a Green Bay repeat would be more popular than Tebow and the Broncos vs anybody in the Super Bowl? I can't stand the guy, but even I recognize his incredible popularity. The Pittsburgh/Denver play-off game was the highest rated wild card game since 1988. That's over 20 years. "The game drew a 25.9 rating and 43 share in the 56 largest U.S. media markets, according to CBS and Nielsen Research. The end of the game drew a 31.6 rating and 46 share nationally for CBS." Tebow is the main reason most of those people tuned in. The numbers for yesterday's game should be even higher since it was in prime time. Tebow was recently named the most popular athlete in the USA in a monthly ESPN poll. He is only the 11th player in 18 years to top the poll. This kid was a back-up quarterback until a few months ago. Now he is more popular than the best athletes in the country. Kobe Bryant, Aaron Rodgers, Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Peyton Manning, each of them a champion, but they all finished behind Tebow. If Denver had made it to the Super Bowl it would have been the biggest sports story of the year. It would have drawn millions of non-sports fans to their TVs. All those God-fearing toothless hicks who live in the hills and don't give a shit about the Packers or the Patriots, they would have bought a new TV just so they could watch Tebow. I get a shudder just thinking about it. I feel so blessed that it didn't happen.

Mini-thread? All I was saying was it would be in the best interests of the NFL to have Tebow in the Super Bowl, and if they were ever thinking about fixing a game (or in this case two) to get a certain team into the big game I can see how this might be a good time for them to do it. Obviously they didn't. I definitely think a Super Bowl with Tebow in it would draw much more attention than your typical SB. You can bet (pun intended) that the already astronomical prices for commercials would be raised. Would it be worth it for the NFL? I'll answer that with another question - can big corporations ever have enough money? As for past sports fixes, it was widely rumored that the Tyson/Douglas fight was a tank job by Tyson. Some also speculated that Neil O'Donnell might have thrown the Pittsburgh/Dallas Super Bowl a few years back. UNLV losing to Duke for the national championship was another rumored fix. Some sports seem to lend themselves better to fixes, like boxing. I imagine point shaving happens much more than we think in basketball. Baseball seems like a very difficult sport to fix.

Hope you had a napkin to wipe up that drool. You were right, of course. The Pats weren't 2 touchdowns better than the Donkeys. They were 5 touchdowns better. Tebow's numbers: 9 completions on 26 attempts, 0 touchdowns, 5 sacks. I guess God didn't hear his prayers. I think the guys on ESPN said this was the 5th worst performance by a quarterback in the history of the play-offs. But yeah, that Tebow is a winner.

42-7 in the 3rd quarter. I hope Reverend Timmy remembers to thank his Lord and Savior for this ass-kickin'.

I never claimed that they HADN'T won the division. I understand why they won the division, even though they had the same record as the Raiders. When I say "they lost their way into the play-offs" it has to do with how they finished the season. Here are the records of all the play-off teams in the final 3 weeks of the season: New England 3-0 New Orleans 3-0 San Francisco 3-0 Pittsburgh 2-1 Baltimore 2-1 Cincinnati 2-1 Green Bay 2-1 Detroit 2-1 Atlanta 2-1 New York 2-1 Houston 0-3 Denver 0-3 Houston lost their last 3 games, but they had already clinched their division so it didn't really matter. Unlike the AFC South, the AFC West race came down to the final day. If Denver had won their final game they would have won the division - but they lost - so they had to rely on the Raiders losing, which they did. When the division championship was on the line, Denver lost. They finished the season with a 3-game losing streak, thus I think it's appropriate to say "they lost their way into the play-offs". You obviously don't like when I say that, but if the shoe fits . . . Back to the game, Tebow has over-whelming public support on his side. He's the under-dog darling with a flair for the dramatic. The TV ratings go thru the roof when he plays. The NFL money boys would love to see the Donkeys beat New England. They'd love to see Tebow and the Broncos go to the Super Bowl. A weak New England defense could allow the Broncos to keep the game close. If ever there was a game tailor made for a fix, this is it. "You understand Bill. It's all about the money. Just tell your defense to ease up a bit and let wonder boy score. Oh, by the way, here's your cut."

You know, I soft peddled this earlier by saying it was "reckless", but in fact calling Andrew Luck a "loser" is simply absurd, even ignorant. Andrew Luck holds almost every passing record at Stanford. He was a runner up for the Heisman 2 years-in-a-row (the Heisman Trophy is not a competition, it is an "award", so it's ridiculous to refer to the runner's up as "losers" ) and led his team to 2 straight BCS Bowl games. They won the first one and, yes, they lost the most recent vs Oklahoma St. In that loss Luck was 27/31 for 347 yards and 2 TDs. He is not a loser. And BTW, I have never said "Tebow is a loser" either. His team has lost games. He has played well in some of those loses and he has played poorly in some, but it's unfair, IMHO, to call him a loser. Calling an individual player a loser has a completely different meaning from simply saying, "His team lost a game." No one who knows anything about college or NFL football is calling Andrew Luck a "loser". That statement pretty much ruins any credibility you had concerning football, Joe. As long as Tebow brings religion onto the field or into the post-game press conference he is making it a valid sports topic. IMHO Tebow is simply a walking, breathing commercial for Christianity. If a player interrupted his interviews every 66 seconds to promote his car dealership ("Come on down to Tebow Motors!") I would bitch about that too. I will use your rude abbreviation Joe, and advise Reverend Tebow to "STFU" about his religion and stick to football. Not sure what this means, unless you are digging up a thread that has been dead for well over a year. The Broncos backed into the play-offs by losing 3 straight games. That's a fact. Perhaps you should move on. Looking forward to another day of Tebow love on the sports talk radio wires today. Thank you Baby Jesus! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuAUI_0knfk

Like I posted earlier, I give the guy credit after the win over Pittsburgh. I'm not hiding. I posted on this thread immediately after the game. I can take the heat. Tebow played well against a very good defense and won. He's still a Donkey and I hate the Donkeys, and that's never gonna change. I also hated buck-toothed Elway, though I also admit he's one of the best QBs to ever play the game. I'm not gonna lie and start gushing all over the guy like you and the other Tebow apostles, but I admit he played much better than I expected. I'd still take Dalton or Luck over Tebow. It's not even a decision worth a second thought. Luck is a loser? That is a reckless statement. Time will prove that who is better, and I will confidently stick with Luck. Will the Broncos stay with Tebow now? I think they obviously will. He was a huge part of a very impressive play-off win. He'll be the starter when the season starts next year. BTW in his slightly less than 2 minute post game interview, Tebow referenced his faith 3 times. That's apprx once every 66 seconds. Praise Jesus. Early predictions? Obviously I like the Pats over the Tebows. Houston got their first play-off win, and I think that's all they'll get, so it should be Ravens/Pats in the Championship game. I don't think the 49ers D can stop the Saints O, and there's no way their offense can score enough points to keep up with the Saints juggernaut. The Giants should be humbled by the Packer Express, though it should be the best game of the weekend. Packers/Saints in a barn burner NFC finale.

No I define this as whining: But hey, they beat the Steelers, so maybe ending the season on a 3-game losing streak IS the way to go into the play-offs. I'm just praying that all-mighty Zeus blesses me with a whole week of Tebow Talk, with folks bending and scraping on their knees to the Lord our God His Tebowness. As an atheist I don't know much about all this Christian-praying-before-during-and-after-sporting-events stuff, (or, as Joe so correctly points out, all the Muslim athletes who give thanks to Allah for their victories, which of course gets suppressed by the Liberal Media. Then again I can't recall ever hearing a Muslim QB give praise to Allah after winning a big game. Probably because if there ARE any Muslim QBs they keep it to themselves, unliike the "more vocal" Christians. But yeah Joe, I'm sure it happens all the time. ). So, since I don't know much about praying, I'll simply quote the expert: "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:5-6) Thank you Jesus and Baby Jesus!

Almost as sad as you whining about me saying the Broncos lost their way into the play-offs But, the good lord willing, you and I will be blessed by our savior and be able to keep whining about stuff in the future. Amen.