Some Quotes

It's still sinking in for me, but the Arizona Cardinals are NFC champions. Some of the quotes surrounding the event are as funny as the event is incomprehensible. Here are a few of my favorites:

• A cold front just blew through hell and the devil is frantically searching for a coat. (Revenge of the Birds)
• Sign: "We are who nobody thought we were" (Arizona Republic)
• Adrian Wilson, a relentless big-hitter and Pro Bowler, "If I could capture this moment in my mind and just remember it for the rest of my life . . . " (Arizona Republic)
• The founding member of the Cardinals "Wilson" greatness in the secondary, Larry Wilson, "It's a cold, cold day in hell". (Arizona Republic)
• Most unbelievable line, and this one is the headline of a newspaper story, "Analysis: Get used to this, Cards fans" (Arizona Republic) Slow down. Let's enjoy the next two weeks
• "Arizona Cardinals and Super Bowl in the same sentence -- I like the way that sounds," Kurt Warner (Arizona Republic)
• Speaking of Warner, this isn't a quote, but I don't recall talk of something happening in a Cardinals game that allegedly cemented one's Hall of Fame status. Well, at least nothing that was done by a Cardinal.

Revised Playoff Picks

Ok, I didn't do so great with the first round picks (2 of 4). Wiggins did a little better (3 of 4). Big deal.

I'm getting all the games right from here on out. Starting with this weekend:

NFC
Cardinals at Panthers - Cardinals win, big
Eagles at Giants - Eagles win, convincingly

AFC
Ravens at Titans - Ravens advance, led by the magic of Ed Reed
Chargers at Steelers - Steelers win, everyone wonders if LT even made the trip

Conference Championship Game
Eagles at Cardinals (!) - Cardinals win; they're pretty good at home
Ravens at Steelers - Ravens; just setting up my ideal Super Bowl

Super Bowl
Cardinals vs. Ravens - I don't love the thought of the Cards offense matching up against the Ravens defense, but since I brought the Cardinals this far, I have to take them the rest of the way... Cards win. Hopefully I can be there to see it.

NFL Playoff Picks - by Mike

Wild Card
NFC
Cardinals over Falcons
Vikings over Eagles

AFC
Colts over Bolts
Ravens over Dolphins

Divisional Round
NFC: Cards and Giants advance
AFC: Titans and Colts advance

Conference Champions
NFC: Giants
AFC: Titans

Super Bowl Champions
Titans

Regardless of what happens, I will be comforted all winter by this fact: over the past 10 years, the Cardinals have won more playoff games than the Cowboys.

College Regional Picks - EDIT - now with Wiggins!

I haven't followed college baseball as closely this year as I have in the past. But it's still one of my favorite times of the baseball year (at any level). There's good major league baseball happening, the minors are in full swing, and college baseball is entering an extremely exciting period.

So here are my picks for the regionals and super regionals. While I'm putting up picks to whittle the field down from 64 to 8, I have just about zero confidence in what I'm picking. It sure feels like just about anything could happen.

Anyway, on to the picks... using the official grid from the NCAA web site (going from top left to bottom right):

Regional Champions
Miami
Arizona
South Carolina
Georgia Tech
Fullerton
Stanford
Oklahoma State
Florida State

North Carolina
Coastal Carolina
Cal-Irvine
LSU
Rice
Dallas Baptist
Long Beach State
Arizona State

Super Regional Champions
Miami
Georgia Tech
Stanford
Florida State

North Carolina
Cal-Irvine
Rice
Arizona State

As you can see, my homerism and personal favorites come through. Shocking. That's four ACC schools in Omaha, the college team I grew up with (Arizona State), another I've always liked (Stanford), a school that I should have thought about attending, but didn't until it was too late (Irvine), and a school that you have to respect (Rice).

I have 12 #1 seeds winning their regionals, leaving 4 #2s to pull off upsets. After that, I have two #2 seeds advancing to Omaha.

Hopefully I got a couple picks right.

WIGGINS' PICKS -

I know less... much less... than Mike on this stuff. But I'll take a stab. Then I'll make him make Euro picks next week...

Regional winners -
Miami, Arizona, UNC, East Carolina, ASU, LBSU, FSU, Wichita, Fullerton, Stanford, Rice, Texas A&M, LSU, UC Irvine, Georgia Tech, N.C. State.

Super-Regionals -

Miami, UNC, ASU, Wichita, Fullerton, Rice, UC Irvine, Georgia Tech.

That may go as a reverse jinx on my boys... but I see them slipping up. And not all three top ACC teams are gonna make it. But UM's too hot, and UNC's road is too easy...

Swear I didn't look at yours - we only got two different CWS teams...

Revisiting Picks

Okay... we are only a month and a half into the season (or so), and I feel good about maybe two of my eight picks from earlier (at least Mike's don't look too much better).

Guess it's time to look again at that, eh?

We never did come up with rules for our contest this year, so I guess it's a free-for-all. Until I hear different. Maybe we'll keep track of how many changes we have to make over the course of the year...


For now I got (changes marked with *)

AL EAST - Boston
AL CENTRAL - Cleveland*
AL WEST - Oakland (I believe)*
AL WC - Tampa Bay (why not?)*

NL EAST - Florida (If I'm gonna have faith - might as well start now)*
NL CENTRAL - Milwaukee
NL WEST - Arizona
NL WC - Atlanta (I have NO clue)*

Reality Sets In

Here's an easy way to confirm that the calendar has turned over from April to May - and you don't even need a calendar to do it. Just take a look at the baseball standings:


The Marlins are no longer in first.


The White Sox have resumed scoring solely via the solo home run and are no longer in first place.


And the surest sign of all that we're now in May is that the Devil Rays are presently closer to last place than first place.


Now it's confirmed that baseball season is really in full swing. It's still a lot of fun though. Hopefully some of my teams will start to play better and will keep things interesting through Labor Day.

Although, I suppose if the Sox don't start playing better, Ozzie and the White Sox coaching staff will make things colorful and interesting off the field.

For real?

We're now four weeks into the baseball season. Granted, the sample sizes are still very small. Less than one-sixth of the season has been played. But:

The White Sox are still in first place.
The Marlins are still in first place.
The Rays are in first place.

The Rays are in first place.

Other than what's going on in the NL Central so far (although maybe it's just setting up for an implosion of record proportion), this is the baseball season I've always dreamed of.