1. Super Bowl Thoughts
You have to give credit to the Saints, to win the Super Bowl they beat Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning. I have no idea what I can add about this game that has not been said for the last 24 hours but I will try to add something insightful. The most impressive thing about the Saints' win was how they held things together after getting their teeth kicked in in the game's opening 15 minutes.In my opinion the game turned when Pierre Garcon dropped the 3rd and 4 pass from Manning around midfield about a third of the way through the 2nd quarter. The Colts were winning 10-3 when that happened. They were outscored 28-7 and a Saints defense that looked like they could not stop the Colts.
One other thing Drew Brees might be Super Bowl MVP but he could not beat Quincy Carter and the Georgia Bulldogs while at Purdue.
2. Super Bowl Commercials
a. All in all I thought it was a very average year for Super Bowl Commercials.
b. Their are a couple of Ad Meters that are used and here are the ranking: the most popular of all the Ad Meters is the one publicized by the USA Today.
c. The USA Today had the ads ranked as followed; 1. Snickers - Guy plays like Betty White until he has a Snicker 2. Doritos - dog puts shock collar on owner. 3. Bud Light - Man builds house out of bud light. 4. Budweiser - Fences do not come in between friends. 5. Coca-Cola - Sleep walker through African jungle.
d. Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management also ranks Super Bowl ads and they give 6 ads A's and here they are: Google (also their top rated ad....I wonder how many at the Kellogg School are Gmailers?), Snickers (Betty White), Dodge (I do not remember this ad at all), Audi (The Green Police), VW (Punchbug...has anyone seen an ugly chick drive a VW car? I haven't), Denny's (Chicken's are in trouble tommorow)
e. The big story going into the game was the ad by Focus on the Family. As it turned out, the spot was very tame and not controversial.
f. In my opinion the best brand was Doritos who had multiple commercials that made me laugh or LOL. Anheuser-Busch was solid as always but not as good as years past.
g. How about the NFL using some Arcade Fire for their commercials. For those that visit the website on Friday's for the What Have We Learned segment they know all about Arcade Fire.
h. Here are my top 5 commercials (THE JJ AD-METER)
1. Doritos - Jalen Are You Playing Nice
2. E-Trade - Baby has to explain himself
3. HomeAway.com - How hot is Beverly Deangelo?
4. FLO TV - How bout Lavender? How bout not
5. Snickers - None of us are ourself when we are hungry.
3. Super Bowl Hodgepodge
a. Did I really sit through 20 minutes of President Obama two hours before kickoff
b. Did CBS really follow up the interview with the President with Steve Winwood?
c. Carrie Underwood with the National Anthem was stunning as always. I loved how she sang it, no band, no music with her, just sing the song as is and she was perfect.
d. NFL networks as a whole was about two times better than CBS's pregame show. In my opinion to many QB's on the CBS show.
e. I did love the Bill Cowher interview with Plaxico. Hard to believe that was Cowher's first time ever interviewing someone and a former player to boot.
f. The Who was good not great and this is coming from someone who absolutely loves Teenage Wasteland.
g. What are the odds we can get Beyonce for next years Super Bowl to spice things up at a bit?
h.The reports are in from Vegas and the largest wager reported was a $2 million money-line play on Indianapolis. I might have been upset Sunday night but at least I did not drop two million on the Colts.
i. How big was the two point conversion? Proposition wagering accounts for about 50 percent of the Las Vegas Hilton's handle, a higher percentage than any other book. One prop that hurt the books, paying off about plus-500, was on a successful two-point conversion.
j. For those without gambling issues, plus 500 means bet 100 to win 500 or bet 10 win 50.
k. For those without gambling issues, minus 180 means you must bet $180 to win $100 or $18 to win $10
l. Also speaking of the Las Vegas Hilton. I think it is my favorite spot in the world to watch football on Sunday afternoons.
m. It has to be mentioned Saints were 20-1 to win Super Bowl in August. Nice payout.
n. Some of the special point-spread props -- Saints minus-31/2 at plus-270, Saints minus-71/2 at plus-475 and Saints minus-101/2 at plus-750 -- also paid dividends for astute bettors. A $100 bet at saints -10.5 would be real nice right now.
o. Here is how some of the more popular prop bets turned out.
How long will it take Carrie Underwood to sing the National Anthem?
Over/Under 1 minute and 42 seconds
WINNER = OVER (1:45)
What color will the Gatorade dumped on the winning head coach be?
WINNER = Orange (5 to 1) * third biggest long shot
How many times will Archie Manning be shown on TV: over/under = 4.5
WINNER = UNDER *contrary to heavy action on “over”
How many times will Kim Kardashian be shown on TV: over/under = 2.5
WINNER = UNDER *contrary to heavy action on “over”
Will The Who smash a guitar on stage during the halftime show? No = -180
WINNER = NO
How many times will Pete Townshend do his “windmill” move? Over/Under = 6
WINNER = OVER
Who will the Super Bowl MVP “thank” first?
WINNER = “does not thank anyone” (2 to 1)
4. Kurt Warner
On January 29 Kurt Warner announced his retirement from football and almost automatically the debate began on Warners career and whether it was Hall of Fame worthy. Let's take a look at the numbers:
- Warner is the only quarterback to throw for over 14,000 yards with two different teams (St. Louis Rams, Arizona Cardinals)
- Most Yards Passing, Super Bowl (Career) - 1,156
- Most Yards Passing, Super Bowl (Game) - 414 yards vs. Tennessee Titans (only QB to pass for 400+ yards in the Super Bowl; also owns 2nd and 3rd highest yardage total in Super Bowl with 377 against the Pittsburgh Steelers and 365 against the New England Patriots)
- Highest career completion percentage, Playoffs - 66.5%
- Tied Dan Marino as the fastest player to pass for 30,000 yards. He accomplished this in 114 games
- Only Quarterback never to be shutout in a game
- Of the 14 quarterbacks enshrined since 1985, none can match Warner in completion percentage, yards per attempt or yards per game. Steve Young is the only one with a higher passer rating than Warner. Dan Marino is the only one with more 300-yard games (Warner has 52, twice as many as Jim Kelly, who played in 36 additional games).
- Warner's 93.7 passer rating is sixth all-time, ranking ahead of Tom Brady and Joe Montana. Warner averaged 258.8 passing yards per game, second only to Peyton Manning.
- Has thrown for 32,344 career yards which does not rank in the top 20 and is behind such "memorable" qb's as Dave Krieg, Jim Hart, Jim Everett, Steve DeBerg, and John Hadl.
- Highest average passing yards per game on Monday Night Football - 329.4 (min 7 games)
In closing I am glad I am not a Hall of Fame voter when it comes to the case of Mr. Warner. I know his case will be debated over and over and he is probably better than some of the QB's in the Hall of Fame and their are some QB's that are better than Warner that are not in the Hall of Fame. If I had to vote today I would lean yes however we have a five year waiting period for a reason so I will check back with you in 2015.
5. NFL Power 15
1. New Orleans Saints - Hard to believe Pater King had the Saints ranked 24th out of 32 teams at the start of the year.
2. Indianapolis Colts - Hopefully the year after Super Bowl loss curse doesnt hurt this team in a very good AFC South.
3. Minnesota Vikings - How did this team not play in the Super Bowl?
4. New York Jets - Held opponents to 236 points last season, the lowest in football by a wide margin.
5. San Diego Chargers - How much do they benefit by playing 6 games against the Broncos, Raiders, and Chiefs?
6. Dallas Cowboys - Get rid of TO and go to second round of playoffs....coincidence?
7. Arizona Cardinals - Who is going to play QB without Warner? I can tell you they are not sold on Leinart.
8. Green Bay Packers - I will be shocked if they are not in my preseason top 5 next summer.
9. Baltimore Ravens - Can they get Joe Flacco some deep threats?
10. Philadelphia Eagles - Are Donavan and Andy ever going to lead this team back to the Super Bowl? I say no.
11. New England Patriots - Team was never the same after the 4th and 1. Why did they trade Seymour?
12. Cincinnati Bengals - Went 6-0 in divisional games. Was 1-6 versus every other AFC team including the playoffs.
13. Houston Texans - By far the best team in football that did not make the playoffs. How tough is the AFC South with Indy, Tennessee, and an above average Jacksonville team.
14. Pittsburgh Steelers - How did the Steel Curtain defense allow 324 points this past season? Might be a reason they did not play deep into January. Troy Polamalu has to be healthy for this team to have a chance.
15. Carolina Panthers - Finished the season winning 3 in a row. Went 8-4 versus the NFC and might have found a QB not named Jake Delhomme (Thank God).
6. Georgia Thoughts
Georgia has hired its last coach for the 2010 season and while I did spend all day on Friday speculating about Saints coach Travis Jones then we received news late Friday afternoon that UGA hired Vanderbilt linebacker coach Warren Belin. My first reaction was who? But then I went and visited some websites and I found this quote from a great Vandy blog called Moral Victory, Belin was with Bobby Johnson for the past eight years and helped develop linebackers Hunter Hillenmeyer, Marcus Buggs, Moses Osemwegie, Jonathan Goff, Patrick Benoist and now Chris Marve. If you're a Georgia fan and don't recognize those names, let's just say that all those guys were two-star recruits who developed into All-SEC players under Coach Belin's tutelage. Most of those guys are playing or will play in the NFL, and Hillenmeyer is the son of a stockbroker and the Bears linebacker who stripped the ball from Adrian Peterson in overtime of a late-season Monday night game to stun Farve and the Vikings. Imagine what Belin can do with four- and five-star talent, if those guys are willing to learn and achieve their potential. Some of my UGA buddies tell me that's a big if, but Vandy fans don't feel any better about facing the Dawgs defense with Belin on their sideline.
If you are a UGA fan and do not get excited by that long quote then I do not want to see you in Sanford Stadium or at a tailgate next season.
Couple of other quick UGA Thoughts
a. Basketball team went 1-1 last week and could have easily been 2-0 if they would have not blown a 15 point lead against Arkansas this past Wednesday.
b. Love this Mark Fox quote, “Everyone said when I came we need a new place. Heck, no, we don’t need a new place! We just need great fans like we had tonight and the right effort.”
c. Of Georgia’s six SEC losses, four have been by four points or fewer.
d. I have yet to hear any baseball reports but they are less than two weeks away from starting the season in Waco, Texas against the Duke Blue Devils. I hate Duke. It should be mentioned that one of the assistants for Duke is Matthew Boggs former Baseball leterman winner at Ga Tech and brother of UGA standout Mitchell Boggs
e. The Georgia men’s tennis program continued its 21-year winning streak against Georgia Tech on Sunday. The Bulldogs beat the Yellow Jackets 5-2 at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Facility in Athens -– Georgia’s 24th consecutive victory over the Yellow Jackets dating back to 1989. Georgia is a mind-boggling 50-1 vs. Tech in men’s tennis since 1969.
f. That's right, Tech Sucks!
7. Non Steroid Team Thoughts
A few weeks ago I gave my list of players that I thought were "clean" during the so-called steroid era. Special credit to Benjamin Ross for the great idea. Also credit needs to go to the roomdawg who helped me with the list.
The first letter comes from the smartest guy in Screven County and Wes writes,
At Catcher, do we not believe in Mike Piazza?
If so, At 2B I gotta go with Biggio, as Jeff Kent played along side of Barry Bonds and never once hit him in the mouth.
At DH, although Molly is a solid choice, have we forgotten about Edgar Martinez, if we base on ’93-’03, I think the fact that he played ’99-’03 and had better numbers in every year but one before that merits consideration.
At SP, I struggled with the idea that Curt Schilling was not on the list until I thought about the tragedy of not having Pedro Martinez on the list.
Oh and by the way, can’t agree with you more on Fred McGriff; If for no other reason, his Tom Emanski hat belongs in Cooperstown.
Personally I do not believe in Piazza. I have alot of questions about someone who was drafted in a round that does not exist anymore and all of a sudden he is Rookie of The Year and perennial All-Star. I think Cut Schilling is the most overrated pitcher of last 20 years and I will go on that rant next week. Plus if their was gun to my head asking if he cheated I would say yes. I need to warn everyone that I personally do not like Schilling, never did even when he was a Philly. I also have questions with Pedro throwing mid 90's when he weighed 170 pounds. Could not agree more on the Tom Emanski hat. I would pay someone $50 bucks for that lid.
Multiple Comments on John Smoltz
Forgot to add him to the list, simple oversight on my part.
Email from greatest kicker in Screven County Football history Donald writes I think Chipper has to replace Cal as 3B on your team. Just my biased opinion.
I think Chipper needs to replace Larry Walker in leftfield.
I got some comments about having Jeter on the team.
One, are you kidding me? Second, he will be the first Yankee to 3,000 hits....thats how good he is.
8. Baseball Thoughts
a.I found this quote from a NL Coach and I absolutely loved this part, "If he gets 500 at-bats, he’s going to hit the ball out 30 or 40 times. In that ballpark, when it warms up, he’ll be fine."
b. I did not like the second part of the quote, "He does go into slumps, and you have to accommodate that.’’
c. I really like the pitching staff the Brewers have put together with the off-season signings off Randy Wolf and Doug Davis to go with Yovani Golardo, Manny Parra, Mark Moulder and Jeff Suppan.
d. These guys get better with Rick Peterson coaching them as well.
e. Who would have thought Kevin Millar would have signed before Johnny Damon?
f. Who else would have thought the Minnesota Twins would have a higher payroll than the Los Angeles Dodgers?
g. Speaking of the Twins I absolutely love the team they have put together for 2010.
h. Everyone knows about Morneau and Mauer but Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Delmon Young, and Denard Span are solid players as well. Plus JJ Hardy and Orlando Hudson are solid up the middle.
i. Not to many household names in the pitching staff but do not forget that Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, Carl Pavano, and Kevin Slowey were good enough to win the AL Central last season. Plus their are rumors Fransico Liriano is throwing in the 90's again.
j. I have to mention that the Twins tied with the Tigers last season with 86 wins. The Atlanta Braves also won 86 games in 2009.
k. Most triples in the 2000s: 1. Jimmy Rollins, 95; 2. Carl Crawford, 92.
l. Wins leaders for the 2000s: 1. Andy Pettitte, 148; 2. Randy Johnson, 143; 3. Jamie Moyer, 140; 4. Roy Halladay, 139.
m. How did Jamie Moyer win 140 games in the last decade? Wow
n. Brad Lidge’s opponents batting average went from .198 in 2008 to .301 in 2009.
o. It was 39 degrees at the opening faceoff when the Flyers played the Bruins on New Year’s Day at Fenway Park. That’s four degrees warmer than the official game time temperature when the Phillies played the Rockies in Game 3 of the NLDS in Denver in October.
p. Terry Francona and his dad Tito each faced Hall of Fame pitchers Don Sutton (Terry outhit Tito, .333 to .095), Fergie Jenkins (Terry outhit Tito, .333 to .273), Nolan Ryan (Terry outhit Tito, .225 to .200), Phil Niekro (Terry outhit Tito, .250 to .000), and Tom Seaver (Terry outhit, Tito .364 to .231). Overall against Hall of Famers, Tito was 122 for 490, hitting .249, while Terry was 25 for 90, hitting .278
q. Six-foot-11-inch Jon Rauch may be the tallest pitcher in the bigs, but he will be the second-tallest in Twins camp, looking up to 7-1 Loek van Mil from the Netherlands
9. College Basketball
a. Did anyone have a better week than Texas A&M who snapped Missouri's 32-game home winning streak and then backed it with a win over Baylor.
b. Duke plays at UNC this Wednesday night and I have no interest, when is the last time I could have said that?
c. I got to show some love to Georgetown. Despite losing to South Florida early in the week they did beat a very good Villanova team at home Saturday afternoon. Everything in the Big East is a grind. What a great hoops conference.
d. Why does the SEC schedule maker do this to any school? This week Tennessee has to play at Vandy and at Kentucky. Not easy.
e. Big Ten did no favors to Ohio State either we three straight road games. They won this past Sunday at Iowa using only 6 players and now must go to Indiana and Illinois this week.
f. The Richmond Spiders shot 77% against Temple in the 2nd half....I couldn't shoot 77% in a lay up drill.
g. I keep hearing and rading about the NCAA tourney expanding to 96 teams. Does anyone really believe their are 31 teams that deserve to get in every year but do not?
h. If you believe this please explain why....because it just looks like a money grab to me.
i. The idea I do like includes expanding the play in games to 4 from 1 giving the power conferences three more teams to get in the tourney.
j. What world does Rick Pitino live in? He likes the 96 team tourney and here is his quote, “You definitely should try it to see if it would be better. “You can always go back. Make it a two-year thing, experiment and try it to see if it is better.” Once you let the genie out of the box you can not put it back.
k. Speaking of Louisville their is also word that the Cardinals could renew a series with Indiana. How have these two schools so close to each other only played 16 times?
l. JJ's Power 5
1. Kansas - Clearly the class of the Big XII...how did they lose to Tennessee?
2. Kentucky - DeMarcus Cousins has scored 16 more points and grabbed 57 more rebounds than any other Wildcat this season.
3. Syracuse - 10-1 in Big East Play....that's amazing
4. Villanova - Also 10-1 in Big East play....going to be a fun conference tourney in the Big Apple next month.
5. Purdue - Robbie Hummel has reached double-figures in scoring in 19 consecutive games
10. Non Football or Baseball Thoughts
a. By far the best week of television last week. I even enjoyed the office. None of my shows were duds.
b. The week got started with one of the better How I Met Your Mothers of the season. If you have not seen it please visit this site.
c. The title of the episode is Perfect Week and has a great baseball theme to picking up chicks. Jim Nantz was awesome as well.
d. 24 is starting to get into a great groove as it is about time. Last night was probably the best episode of the season to date.
e. I do not understand the storyline of the rednecks from Kentucky but in true 24 style I am sure they will tie everything together.
f. I went to see the movie Valentine's Day earlier Monday night. Probably the definition of average.
g. Without the Jessica's Biel and Alba it would have been a waste of two hours.
h. I like the roles Ashton Kucher plays as an actor.
i. This movie is not worthy of a review.
j. A weekend that everyone needs to keep an eye out on is the weekend of April 9 and 10 in Athens, Ga. The Kinchafoonee Cowboys play at the Melting Point Friday night. Saturday gives us a Moma's Boy breakfast and the G-Day Game plus some UGA-Ole Miss baseball.
k.For those on spring break they can use Thursday April 8th as a great kickoff to the weekend with Cubs-Braves at Turner Field.
l. For those that can get to Atlanta around lunch time on March 15th we will be having our annual March Madness auction....email me for details. The fabulous Stacey will be the auctioneer and she will make sure it is fun.
m. Is anyone else looking forward to the three day weekend?
n. Sunday night gives us the return of The Amazing Race and in my opinion the second best reality show on television. Sports are the best reality show on the tube. Here is a preview.
o. I would love to do a season with my brother because we are such opposites that we would work well together. He is also the second best person I know at reading a map. I am the first. The only problem is I might want to kill him about halfway through the race.
p. Just as a Ten Things Note we did not have a What I Read feature this week but we will double up next week. I already have the stories picked out. If you ever find a great article shoot it to me.
q. The Winter Olympics start this weekend and the people of the mid-Atlantic might need to send some of their snow to Vancouver because they are hurting.
r. The games begin Friday with the Opening Ceremony. On Saturday we will have Men's Downhill, Freestyle Skiing, Short track, ski jumping, and speedskating.
s. I am intrigued how well these games will do television wise after the debacle in Turin four years ago. Even more intriguing is two days ago we had the most watched television event in history with the Super Bowl.
t. With no football content ideas are always welcome as well as your feedback.
Quote of the Week
Comes from winning Super Bowl coach Sean Payton on his decision to give up some money on his contract in order to hire Gregg Williams as his defensive coordinator.
I had some beers in me.
Quote of the Week II
From Saints kicker Thomas Morstead who started the 2nd half with a well placed on side kick.
"I wasn't worried. I was terrified."
Quote of the Week III
Their are two things you do not do. One - you do not open an email from Phil Simms in front of your kids. And two you do not jinx a man going for a perfect week.
Text of the Week
From the Good Doctor who better be careful what he wishes for
I wish a hurricane would hit Georgia if that meant we could win a championship.
Text of the Week II
Comes from an unidentified female who was chatting with Raul. Raul was trying to get her to go out this past weekend.
I am not going to casually drink on the weekends, thats just silly.
Tweet of the Week
Comes from Rob King who is Editor-in-chief of ESPN.com
This show reminds me I've moved from Teenage Wasteland to Middle-Aged Waistband ...
Come from David Hale the UGA beat writer for Macon and Columbus papers (his coverage is about 6x better than AJC)
Weather is awful, but breakfast @ mama's boy has greatly improved my morning.
For those that know about a mama's boy breakfast, they know about one of the few hidden gems of the Classic City.
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