Hooray!

Bears win! I don’t like this Bears team, but it means Seahawks lose!

Now we have all kinds of fun Super Bowl match ups:

two of the USA’s biggest cities and best NFL markets (New York vs. Chicago)
storied black and blue teams (Steelers vs. Bears)
long-time NFL franchises (Steelers vs. Packers, but also for Steelers vs. Bears)
NFL’s biggest market vs. NFL’s smallest (New York vs. Green Bay)

This kind of finish is more than adequate compensation for what was largely a stupid and often unenjoyable NFL season.

Oh No It’s Happening Again!

Dreadful NFC West Champion named after a bird? Check. Bird team has crappy running game? Check. Bird team advances to divisional round? Check. Strong NFC wild-card team with running QB wins it’s divisional round game so bird team could host NFC Championship Game? Check. Steelers win their divisional game? Check.

We could be seeing the 2009 post-season all-over again, with the one-dimensional bird team from the NFC West in the Super Bowl against the Steelers.

I find myself in the unhappy situation of rooting for a Bears team that I consider almost as fraudulent as the Seahawks. I can’t shake all those 29 yard rushing games Matt Forte had early in the year and Jay Cutler getting clowned by the Redskins. My football instincts don’t like this Bears team even if they did finish pretty strong.

The Bears could knock the elder Hasselbeck brother out of the game and put Charlie Whitehurst under center. That would kill the Seahawks, unless Marshawn Lynch can again deviate from his usual 68 yards rushing per game. But what if bad Forte and bad Cutler come back and we remember the Bears’ best WR is Johnny Knox?

The Packers look mighty. Yet when the Seahawks are playing well, Seattle, whether Kingdome or QWest Field, is a tough place to play. I’m still not sold on the Packer running game. Maybe it won’t matter? But maybe the Seahawks pull it off? Then I have a Super Bowl where I still want to root against the Seahawks, but have to root with the teeming hordes of Stillers fans, the unlikable Patriots or the unlikable Jets.

Go Bears!

Dumb College Football Announcing

Criticizing sports event announcers is long-time secondary pastime for fans. It’s not as if Awful Announcing just started posting yesterday, they’ve been at it for years. I am to sad to see local gal Pam Ward is on their Mount Rushmore of terrible announcers, in the George Washington spot no less, though the quite deserving Dick Vitale is right next to her. I have a fondness for Pam after her yeowoman work as the 20/20 update gal in the early days of SportsTalk 570 in Washington DC, but I can’t mount much defense of her play by play work.

Instead, I’m going to take my daggers out for a different ESPN college football team: Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore & Rob Stone. Several weeks ago I was watching NC State and West Virginia in the Citrus Bowl. Someone, I’m think it’s Gilmore, whom I found to be a good studio analyst, commented about West Virginia RB Noel Devine. Devine is a typical small RB, fast, shifty, tough but not going to survive 20 carries a game in the NFL. Announcer-I-Fear-was-Gilmore said something to the effect of “NFL scouts were asking the WVU coaching staff to have Devine run back some punts so they could evaluate him in that role. If you’ve seen what Dexter McCluster has done for the Kansas City Chiefs, you know why.”

“What, be a slightly above average punt returner?” I grumbled in response. Announcer-I-Fear-was-Gilmore’s statement is twice dumb.

First is the direct analysis of McCluster. He returned only 13 punts this year but did well on those limited opportunities. However nearly half the man’s yardage this season is on a 94 yard TD return. He’s adequate as a kick-off returner and a “ball in space” player from scrimmage catching screen passes and running end arounds. Not only is it premature to think Devin Hester is looking over his metaphoric shoulder at McCluster, I’d argue McCluster isn’t even special compared to other rookies. Brandon Banks, Dez Bryant and Marc Mariani had better first years running back kicked footballs. Bryant, who has a better future as a full-time WR than anyone else discussed, also did more from scrimmage. There’s no shame in this, McCluster might be better than all those guys in the future, but as of December 28, 2010 he wasn’t. I’m sure the Chiefs are glad to have him, ball-in-space guys are useful. Still, unless the threat of him is helping Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones find running lanes or Dwayne Bowe to get open, I’d argue he’s not a key part of the surprisingly competent 2010 Chiefs.

Second is the disconnect of college football broadcasters from the NFL. This is illustrated by Announcer-I-Fear-was-Gilmore’s comparison of Noel Devine and McCluster. NFL teams hiring short fast guys to return kickoffs and punts is not a recent innovation. No, the NFL isn’t Gilmore’s (it probably was him) job and his football playing ended after he graduated from Cal-Berkley, but this understanding of the NFL doesn’t seem complicated. This is a particular variant of the common call by many a NCAA announcer regarding a collegiate star that “_______ is going to be doing this on Sundays!” when even a fourth-rate Mel Kiper wannabe like me sees that is unlikely barring a NFL strike/lockout. I’m pretty sure the Arena League, the UFL and the CFL play on Sundays, so technically this could happen. At least couch the statement with “somebody in the NFL should give him a chance” if the guy is obviously marginal.