Let the Crying Begin

The NFL playoffs are set and New England hasn't been invited. Let the crying in Boston commence at once. It's already started -- for those of you that want to cry with New England fans, here are the talking points (and you have to make these points in as whiny of a voice as possible):

• It's not fair. San Diego went 8-8 and made the playoff and the Patriots won 11 games and don't. WAHHHH!
• Look at all the obstacles New England overcame this year to win 11 games. WAHHHH!
• Tom Brady didn't even play and New England won 11 games. WAHHHHH!

Maybe it's not fair that an 8-8 team makes it in over an 11-win team but that's the way the league is setup. Same with baseball. Is it fair that a team with a losing record could technically make it in to the playoffs over a team with over 1oo wins? Probably not but that's what the divisional races are all about. If New England wanted to make the playoffs, they should have beaten Miami in Week 3. Their only win over playoffs teams were Week 12 over the Dolphins and Week 16 over Arizona, who had already wrapped up the NFC West. Pardon me if I don't feel overly sympathetic for the Patriots. But I don't need to...they have ESPN for that.

Okay, other NFL stuff:

• Watched every second of the Eagles/Cowboys game. Oh, that was just amazing. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a full T.O. meltdown where he rips off his Cowboys jersey, steals an Eagles jersey from a fan in the crowd and tried to rejoin the Eagles team. And then McNabb beats him down and Andy Reid gives him a belly splash. Yeah, that would be better.
• Does anyone else thing Ben Roethlisberger is a drama queen? He's injured pretty much every game. I really thought Mike Tomlin was going to go out on the field and just laugh at him.
• Detroit went 0-16. Ha.
• Philip Rivers v. Jay Cutler. What a rivalry...I guess. I was happy to see San Diego make the playoffs...especially after everyone said they were dead 5 weeks ago.
• New England. Haahahahahahaha.
• Goodbye Romeo Crennel....or Art Shell. They are the same person!
• Goodbye Eric Mangini. That makes me sad. I wanted him to beat Belichick so badly.
• Goodbye Rod Marinelli. Didn't win many games but you'll go down in history.
• Goodbye Brett Favre? Maybe? Maybe not? Hey, it's Brett Favre...you'll know what he's doing when he knows what he's doing.
• Lastly, some really early picks for your 2009 Super Bowl. This isn't who I want but I think is most likely to be there: NFC - Philadelphia. (McNabb will find a way to blow it but the door is definitely open for them.) AFC - Baltimore. (I hate to say that but if the Ravens can find any offense, they might be unbeatable. Pittsburgh has too much QB drama.)

That's enough for the NFL. I'll comment on the bowl games later or tomorrow or sometime before next season. Bill Stewart...coming later.