The NFL Play-offs

[Grandpollo 366]

well, that didn't take long...Denver wins toss, completes 80 yard TD pass and the TT story continues for another week...game over

 

Denver 29 Pitt 23

 

I am lucky to be away from home right now where there is a sportsbook. I only managed to bet DEN PIT as I wanted to bet NO as well. I thought they were all Sunday games . Nope.

 

Bet DEN +7 and DEN +275 and made a nice 183% same day profit.

 

[joekicker 53]

Current odds, Thursday afternoon US time, Early Friday in Thailand.

 

New Orleans over San Francisco 3.5, 47 points

New England over Denver 13.5, 50 points

Baltimore over Houston 7.5, 36 points

Green Bay over the Giants 7.5, 52.5 points

 

The New England game makes me drool, who the heck is ever two certain touchdowns better than the opposition in the NFL?? The points are VERY high, it seems to me. Like, no one in the whole NFL has a defence?

 

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[VicVegas 70]

The Bronco's won the seed regardless of your ignorance in the matter. It's why they have rules. Move on Sour Vic.

 

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."

 

Edited January 13, 2012 by VicVegas

[joekicker 53]

"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."

 

Curious. You think a US pro sports game or series can be fixed these days? They couldn't fix it properly in 1918 when the players were chattel and got a few hundreds bucks a month. Several college basketball fixes lie exposed. So what I'm curious about, presuming it's not a joke that flew over my crewcut - how do you fix US pro sports so they stay fixed? And have you got some sort of speculative numbers you think would make it worth while -- dollars I mean?

 

I am totally cynical that this is possible. I don't believe it's possible to fix it and I can't see any way that it would be worth the risk - I mean, we'd be talking millions of dollars at best, surely? -- the difference between a "normal" Super Bowl audience and a "Tebow Super Bowl" audience? I don't think you could convince me that would be worth even a whisper about, risking the whole sport if it's exposed???

 

I can't prove there never was a successful fix, but I don't believe there has ever been one, not at the professional league or high-level college level. Even one-on-one steroid fixes failed completely because there was always someone around to tattletale about it.

 

So I'm all ears.... er, well, you know what I mean. Convince me how naive and dumb I am. Give me a decent scenario for a fix and make me cry "uncle".

 

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[brotherbuzz 3,206]

I understand why they won the division

Move on Vic.

[joseph1 6]

can someone tell me where the patriots game will be shown on sunday morning here in pattaya???

 

list here or send to scaraboat@yahoo.com

thank you.

[joekicker 53]

H1 of San Francisco-NO in the books. One of those crappy but exciting games, very good fun.

 

UPDATE: All over. One of the really watchable games of the playoffs, worth a look for sure. Brees was every bit as good as he was a year ago.

 

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Edited January 15, 2012 by joekicker

[joekicker 53]

The only team that played in Week 17 is sure playing again today, the Patriots blowing the Broncos out. Brady looks totally unbeatable, and the whole team is "up". There is no contest.

 

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[brotherbuzz 3,206]

Brees was every bit as good as he was a year ago.

I'm most impressed with his O-line giving him the time to be a very good QB. That said, his shoveling the ball to avoid at least 3 sacks showed great poise.

[VicVegas 70]

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

[VicVegas 70]

The New England game makes me drool, who the heck is ever two certain touchdowns better than the opposition in the NFL??

 

 

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.

 

[joekicker 53]

Hope you had a napkin to wipe up that drool.

 

 

No kidding. One of those days I'm glad how very, very seldom I actually bet.

 

But yeah, that Tebow is a winner.

 

No doubt in my mind about that. I caught Michael Irwin on the NFL channel saying he wish he'd had a leader like Tebow when he played.

 

Tebow had a heckuva run. He's got the summer to work with his boys, and learn how to throw, and get a system that isn't the triple option. Broncos look best in the West for next year right now, especially since the Chargers are keeping Norv "Hangin' Coach" Turner for another horrible year.

 

Vic, any response to the "fixing games" mini-thread you started and so abruptly abandoned?

 

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[VicVegas 70]

Vic, any response to the "fixing games" mini-thread you started and so abruptly abandoned?

 

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.

[brotherbuzz 3,206]

All I was saying was it would be in the best interests of the NFL to have Tebow in the Super Bowl

 

I definitely think a Super Bowl with Tebow in it would draw much more attention than your typical SB.

LMFAOAY. You've built him so far up your ass it's ridiculous Vic. The NFL, if they had their druthers, would like to have 2 teams that have far-reaching fan bases, not a one-man Cinderella story, and as a single example, GB going back to back would draw more than your nightmare would.

 

You seriously crack me up dude....

[The Mook 105]

I agree buzz, the primary thing is to have two large markets in the bowl...NY metro, San Fran Metro etc...

 

the next best thing is the story, aka New Orleans winning it 2 years ago after the rough ride the city had...

would a TT underdog story be a good one? yes, but that isn't happening; would TT command a bit more

attention? I think so but nothing more than any other 8-8 team making a run to the SB; the fact it's such a

long shot that would make it compelling. The hard-core Christian thing would be so overdone by then; God

doesn't root for NFL teams, IMHO.

 

The TT train is out of commission until next year, so will either road team win today or will be 8 in a row for the home team?

Edited January 15, 2012 by The Mook

[VPI78 11,509]

I agree buzz, the primary thing is to have two large markets in the bowl...NY metro, San Fran Metro etc...

 

the next best thing is the story, aka New Orleans winning it 2 years ago after the rough ride the city had...

would a TT underdog story be a good one? yes, but that isn't happening; would TT command a bit more

attention? I think so but nothing more than any other 8-8 team making a run to the SB; the fact it's such a

long shot that would make it compelling. The hard-core Christian thing would be so overdone by then; God

doesn't root for NFL teams, IMHO.

 

The TT train is out of commission until next year, so will either road team win today or will be 8 in a row for the home team?

 

The Super Bowl is such a large event these days that it really does not matter which teams are in the game as far as TV viewership in the US goes. The game itself is almost anti-climatic considering the whole day/night (if not the entire weekend of the game) has become a virtiuual holiday in the US.

[VicVegas 70]

LMFAOAY. You've built him so far up your ass it's ridiculous Vic. The NFL, if they had their druthers, would like to have 2 teams that have far-reaching fan bases, not a one-man Cinderella story, and as a single example, GB going back to back would draw more than your nightmare would.

 

You seriously crack me up dude....

 

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.

[joekicker 53]

I definitely think a Super Bowl with Tebow in it would draw much more attention than your typical SB.

 

Please tell me that was a joke that I didn't get. Please!! So I can laugh with you instead of at you.

 

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.

 

As the guy says on The Office:

 

Question! What do you think the Super Bowl has been doing the past 40 years... heck, let's say the past 45 years?

 

Fact: The Super Bowl is the biggest US sports story of the year. The Super Bowl draws TENS of millions of non-sports fans to their TVs.

 

As for past sports fixes, it was widely rumored that the Tyson/Douglas fight was a tank job by Tyson.

 

Yes, well, there have been rumours on FLB that you are a US sports fan. Your rumours and five bucks..... etc etc.

 

I realise the problem here, that a *successful*conspiracy is never known and never rumoured. So I'll just try once again to get your response to YOUR actual suggestion on how -- as the omnipotent sports executive you are in this fantasy -- how you would bribe or instruct the New England defence to go easy on Tebow and let him win, and no one would ever find out about that, ever. How would a non-pseudo sports fan like yourself handle that, or think that it could be handled in a way that there never would be rumours about it that would, you know, *reduce* the cost of adverts on the Super Bowl broadcast and throw US football into an economic and moral tailspin that wouldn't recover in your lifetime?

 

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.

 

Name one PERSON who wasn't going to watch the Super Bowl who would change his/her mind and re-schedule Feb 5 because it was Tim Tebow. One. I know a lot of people in Colorado, hundreds, and I can't name one. So you name one for me, or identify one, or give me an example of a fantasy person you have thought up -- one person who would do this. One.

 

You are completely out of it. Daft. You are totally effed up by TDS, so totally you are not thinking straight about everything else and anything else. Take a deep breath, or even consider taking a week's worth of them. Really.

 

You've done a Dusa, Vic. You've taken a perfectly good thread and made it entirely, completely about you.

 

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Edited January 15, 2012 by joekicker

[brotherbuzz 3,206]

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.

Uhhh, yes, that's why I typed it. 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.

[VicVegas 70]

Question! What do you think the Super Bowl has been doing the past 40 years... heck, let's say the past 45 years?

 

Fact: The Super Bowl is the biggest US sports story of the year. The Super Bowl draws TENS of millions of non-sports fans to their TVs.

 

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.

 

So I'll just try once again to get your response to YOUR actual suggestion on how -- as the omnipotent sports executive you are in this fantasy -- how you would bribe or instruct the New England defence to go easy on Tebow and let him win, and no one would ever find out about that, ever. How would a non-pseudo sports fan like yourself handle that, or think that it could be handled in a way that there never would be rumours about it that would, you know, *reduce* the cost of adverts on the Super Bowl broadcast and throw US football into an economic and moral tailspin that wouldn't recover in your lifetime?

 

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.

 

 

You've taken a perfectly good thread and made it entirely, completely about you.

 

I would never dream of stealing your act.

 

 

he's not the water-cooler item you've built him up in your mind to be.

 

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.

[brotherbuzz 3,206]

I think you are dead wrong.

Better defined as you can't comprehend that you're wrong.

 

Tebow has been THE water cooler topic of the past 3 months, and you're blind if you can't see that.

No Vic, rather than being blind I actually live in the country where he plays football, and don't have to use an ESPN poll to tell me what real people are talking about here . I've also listened to the radio, read newspapers and watched TV here for the last 3 months and you've pretty much mentioned him in this thread more than all those mediums combined. He's gotten airtime, no doubt, but then not near as much as Joe-pa or a dozen other stories did.

 

The world does not revolve around your imagination.....

[joekicker 53]

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.

 

Like I said, this thread has been taken over by a religious freak. There are VERY few church services on during Sunday evening Vic. One of the reasons is that churches show sports - including the Super Bowl (again). Welcome to the world, Vic. The world where THOUSANDS of churches have been setting up TVs and watching the Super Bowl for several decades. The NFL has tried to stop them, and now has given up. You couldn't convince another church to do it because so many did it on their own without waiting for your encouragement.

 

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.

 

Sigh. The thread is phuocked Vic. You phuocked it. I won't be posting football here any more. There's a thread going on where they discuss football.

 

Yes YOU said bribe the defence. I get it. I got it. Then I asked you: How would you prevent knowledge of that from leaking out and hurting pro football so badly it would lose tens of millions of fans overnight, send its executives to prison? Like what happened with previous sports fixes like baseball, college hoops and boxing? How would YOUR plan to increase viewership by dozens and dozens of Tebow fans help football overall but not harm it 50 times worse?

 

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

 

Nah, continue with your missionary work. There should always be a religious thread going anyhow. Trust an aetheist to start one under false colours ....

 

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[9cisco999 107]

Is the FLB or any other bar planning to show a rerun of the Niner-Saints game?

 

Time/place?

[VicVegas 70]

Better defined as you can't comprehend that you're wrong.

 

 

No Vic, rather than being blind I actually live in the country where he plays football, and don't have to use an ESPN poll to tell me what real people are talking about here . I've also listened to the radio, read newspapers and watched TV here for the last 3 months and you've pretty much mentioned him in this thread more than all those mediums combined. He's gotten airtime, no doubt, but then not near as much as Joe-pa or a dozen other stories did.

 

The world does not revolve around your imagination.....

 

 

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.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

You're more interested in telling me I'm wrong than discussing the topic.

 

As an aside Vic, and I apologise if you mentioned it in the thread, how are you watching the games this season? I've got to say that the HD transmissions of the NFL on Astro are one of the things that make the subscription worthwhile.