The Great Game

This year's Super Bowl was a fine example of how a football game should play out. While the Packers were dominating the entire game it still felt surprisingly even, even though they were up 21-10 at halftime. The Packers ended up only winning by 6 points but the big difference in the game was Pittsburgh's 3 turnovers, all resulted in Green Bay touchdowns, one of which was a pick 6.

While I'm happy for the Packers winning, I did think the Steelers were going to win from an experience factor. As it turned out the Packers looked like the more experienced team which is surprising considering the Steelers have been in 3 Super Bowls in 6 years. The Steelers defense didn't really make anything happen outside of 2 sacks. The Packers defense got pressure on Big Ben a lot during the game, and while they only got 1 sack on him, they held up their side of things, leading them to victory. While Rodgers got the MVP honors, it was the defense that gave him those great chances with short fields to get points.

There was a time about midway through the Fourth Quarter I was sure the game was going to overtime. When the Packers got deep into Steelers territory I was surprised they went for the field goal. Even though it didn't matter in the end, knowing Green Bay's weakness on special teams throughout the year I thought there was a good chance they'd blow it. A touchdown drive would've given the Steelers the win unless Suisham missed the extra point at that stage in the game. But it didn't happen, so no harm no foul I guess.

Overall, I was very satisfied with this Super Bowl. It was a great way to end the season, and the only thing anyone could've asked for was overtime, but we'll have to wait another season for that to happen. But for now, let's just hope there is a next season.

Super Bowl XLV

My final prediction of the season is here. After looking back at what each team has accomplished this season and looking at how the Steelers and Packers match-up against one another, I have come to a sound conclusion about who will win the Super Bowl this year.

The Pittsburgh Steelers will win Super Bowl XLV 31-27

I don't say this lightly, but I'll say that this Super Bowl seems to be the most evenly matched Super Bowl in years, if not ever. Their offenses and defenses match-up against one another extremely well and both have sub-par Special Teams coverage. If there was ever a Super Bowl that had the possibility to go to Overtime, it'd be this one.

For two teams with great defenses, my score prediction might seem a little high, but usually when two great defenses play against one another the score is usually a little on the high side. It might be because there will be a lot of defensive touchdowns and turnovers leading to short fields, but I think it'll come down to both defenses overcompensating for one thing. The Steelers will probably overcompensate the Packers passing game, allowing them to run the ball effectively. The Packers will overcompensate the running game which will allow Roethlisberger to pass effectively.

As far as how I think it will end, I'd like to see it go to overtime and end with a kickoff return for a touchdown after the team who got it first scores a field goal on their opening drive. It'd be the first time ever a Super Bowl goes to overtime, and it'd also be the first time the NFL would use their new Playoff overtime rules. If it ended the way I just described, it'd also mean the losing coach would complain about the overtime rules costing them the Super Bowl, which would be hilarious.

I think this Super Bowl is going to be spectacular. It involves Dallas, Green Bay and Pittsburgh; three of the biggest teams in the league. It could really only get better if both teams were undefeated. But since it's not, I believe we're in for something special, as it might be the last NFL game we see for quite a while.

Returning to Normalcy

It's been a while since I've updated here, so I thought I'd give a bit of a rundown about what's going on in my life since my last Playoff Predictions (I went 2-0 by the way).

Computer Troubles
I had to get my laptop fixed, which included a new hard drive, a keyboard and DVD drive replacement. Since it was all free I had no reason to complain. This was a big reason why I didn't update my blog for a while, but it wasn't the main reason.

NHL All-Star Weekend
This past weekend I went to the NHL All-Star Game in Raleigh, NC. The Skills Competition was definitely a highlight as Chara from Boston (I forget his first name) broke his NHL record with a 105.9 MPH slapshot. The RBC Center went absolutely insane when he did it, and it will be something I won't forget either. Speaking of never forgetting things, I got a picture with, and got to touch the Stanley Cup at the NHL Fan Fair. It was pretty cool experience, and I got a lot of pictures from the Skills Competition and Fan Fair. I might be able to upload them this week before the Super Bowl so I can share some of them with you. The game was fun, too. The highlights being Alexander Ovechkin throwing a stick in order to stop a player from scoring a goal, which resulted in a Penalty Shot where there was no goal, and the Guardian Project. I'm sorry, but if Stan Lee wanted money, he could've asked.

Video Games
I've been playing a few games in the past few weeks as well. This includes me buying Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (Wii) which is a very fun fighting game, but it just feels off to me. It might be because I don't have a Fight Stick for Wii, but with a Classic Controller Pro it's just fine for the most part. Another purchase was Dead Space 2 (PS3) which came with Dead Space Extraction. I haven't played the latter, but I'm a bit over halfway through the former and I've got to say it's well put together, but I still think the first one is better. Some enemies in Dead Space 2 just seem to pop out of nowhere and you just take damage, which makes me frustrated at times.

So with that, until next time, which should be Friday when I pick the Super Bowl.

Championship Weekend Picks

Packers @ Bears
- This one could go either way. They split the series with the home team winning each game. However Green Bay looks really good right now and will have an extra day's rest when they head into Chicago. The Packers have the edge on Offense while both defenses are playing excellently right now. The Bears have the Special Teams edge but that can easily be manipulated by the Packers in terms of what happens. So I think the Packers will win by at least 3 points, possible a touchdown.

Jets @ Steelers
- The Jets barely beat the Steelers a few weeks ago at Pittsburgh, but the Steelers didn't have Polamolu playing. This will give the Steelers a huge edge against that Jets offense who have always looked bit a shaky. I think the Steelers offense matches up well with the Jets Defense, especially on the ground game so the Jets will probably be forced to play 7-8 men in the box all day. The only way the Jets can win this one is if they cause a lot of turnovers on defense deep in Steelers territory.

No News is Old News

There hasn't been much news that I could discuss lately. I don't think I need to discuss tragedies as the news does that enough. In addition, I don't feel I'm qualified to judge motivations, no matter how bad they are. I can discuss football, but I think I do that well enough in my football picks. I might start discussing the NHL soon because I am going to the all-star game, but I don't watch that much hockey until the playoffs roll around.

There's also not much to talk about on the video games front either. I've played a few games, but I'm not really playing all that much. I played through the second Professor Layton and that was pretty good, but when I started the third, the early puzzles made me infuriated at their obscurity.

So needless to say, news is slow, so don't expect a lot of updates when I can't discuss the daily events because they aren't daily.

NFL Divisional Round Picks

Last week I was 4-0, so I'm happy with the results since I can gloat forever that I picked the 7-9 team to win a playoff game. But alas, it's time for tihs week's picks:

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
- I like the Ravens, but I think the Steelers will win this one. These two always play close, but last week Baltimore was really banged up in their win. While Pittsburgh is banged up as well, the bye will help Polamolu recover and he'll be the difference.

Green Bay @ Atlanta
- These two played close in the last game, but Atlanta had a rough stretch near the end, including a close loss to New Orleans when they decided to not play to win. With Green Bay rolling now that they seemingly have a running game, I expect them to win by at least a touchdown.

Seattle @ Chicago
- This mainly comes down to whether or not I trust Jay Cutler at quarterback. The simple answer is no I don't. He's not known for playing well after a bye week, and the Seahawks offense looked really impressive last week. These two played at Chicago earlier this season so I expect a similar game with a similar result since they matchup extremely well against one another.

New York @ New England
- I know people are expecting this game to be closer than last time because it'd be a miracle if it wasn't, right? I expect them to play well, but given that New England plays better when they have extra time to prepare and New York doesn't (remember they had an extra day of rest) I expect the Patriots to win this one.

Wild Card Weekend Picks

Saints at Seahawks
- Everyone's picking the Seahawks in this one. They lost at the Saints earlier this year, but they're getting their QB back, they have a big home field advantage, and Drew Brees has been interception happy for a dozen straight games. It all seems like a perfect storm for me for this game to not only be closer than what it should be, but an upset in the making.

Jets at Colts
- I don't like the Jets, but they have a pretty good defense. With a banged up Colts offense, I can see them holding the Colts down for a long time, enough so to keep them ahead in the late game. I know Peyton Manning's a great QB, but his team's too banged up on offense to do what they did against the Jets last season in the AFC Championship.

Ravens at Chiefs
- The Chiefs have looked good for most of the season, but so have the Ravens. This matchup's pretty even, but this one mainly comes down to experience and the Ravens have it, the Chiefs don't.

Packers at Eagles
- Earlier in the year Vick had a coming out party against the Packers after Kevin Kolb got injured. It was too much of a deficit to overcome, but they made the game close. Green Bay also didn't gameplan for Vick in that game as well as had a few injuries which are fine now. The weather shouldn't play a factor in how the Packers play, so the edge goes to Green Bay here.

Raiders ditch Cable

Just when you think Al Davis can't get any more stupid, he goes and fires Tom Cable after the Raiders' best season since losing the Super Bowl to the Buccaneers all those years ago. It's just baffling to me that something like this could happen.

But then I remember who owns the Raiders.

Sub Par Playoffs

The last game of the regular season wrapped up a few hours ago, and it was determined that a team without a winning record would not only be going to the NFL Playoffs, but hosting one of its' games. The Seattle Seahawks defeated the St. Louis Rams in what was an absolutely awful game from beginning to end, where a lone touchdown was the deciding factor.

The Seahawks will host the Saints next week in which will probably be Seattle's only playoff game this season, but left out in the cold are the New York Giants, who finished tied with Green Bay, but lost out due to losing last week's head-to-head with Green Bay. The Giants were three games better than Seattle, but because each division must have at least one winner representative in the Playoffs, they got the short end of the stick. It's a product of the system that something like this has to happen, and while I don't like the Giants, I think something like this should be avoided in the future. Bad teams shouldn't deserve to be in the Playoffs. When your team can't muster a winning record, you just don't belong.

Christmas Jeers

I know it's a week late for Christmas tales, but I've been really sick for the past month or so, and for a couple of days last week I wasn't able to talk so now that I'm better I thought I'd talk about what I got and I enjoyed/didn't enjoy for Christmas.

Disliked
I didn't like being sick on Christmas, since it's my favorite holiday of the year. I always get excited for Christmas, the wrapping and opening of presents, the putting up of the trees and lights. It's all so festive and it really does make you feel like a kid again, at least for a brief moment. But since I was sick this year I really didn't get to enjoy it as much as I usually do, and it really hurts me to say that.

I also didn't like the meager amount of sporting events on Christmas. There were five basketball games and one football game, which was terrible. The most anticipated basketball game turned out to be over by the end of the first quarter so it didn't really mean much.

As for my biggest dislike, it's Golden Sun Dark Dawn. I love the original Golden Sun games on Game Boy Advance, but this game is just really hard to get into. The story is really stupid, reiterating the same thing to me multiple times in the opening cinematic and then continues to tell me that same thing another twenty times in the first two hours of gameplay. It's just really off-putting to the consumer when something like that is beaten like a drum into the player's mind for so long. At least Metroid Other M stopped with Samus saying "baby" so much after the first ten minutes.

Liked
I liked getting a new DS, specifically the DSi XL. I know the next-gen DS is coming out in March but I'm weary of what the price will be as well as the product line-up for it. With the DSi XL I've downloaded a couple of pretty good DSiWare games and the screens are MUCH BIGGER than what I had with the DS lite so my eyes aren't straining as much. Now I can play a lot more handheld games than I have been in the past. I bought Shantae's Risky Revenge and Mario vs. DK, and both seem really solid for the half hour or so I played them.

I also liked Assassin's Creed Brotherhood for the most part. I haven't jumped into the multiplayer, and I probably never will, but the story was interesting enough to keep me going until the end. It is a letdown from Assasssin's Creed II however. I also liked Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, and while I didn't get to play as much of it as I wanted I felt satisfied by the little I did play of it.