By the Book

How depressing.

I don’t think that, as a fan, I’ve ever had a week this bad. One week after saying how great a week it was for Concordia athletics, the world gets turned on its head. I mean, what’s all this white stuff? I mean it is January 17th. Does it think it can just come out of nowhere? I’m telling you, it’s a conspiracy. Not only did the Canadiens start free-falling faster than the temperature, but the Stingers lost every game they played this week. That’s right, this weekend Concordia teams were 0-5-1 with the women’s hockey losing in a shootout Saturday night. I blame myself. I thought last week was a turning point, I really did. But, oh how wrong I was. I jinxed them. To every Stinger, I’m sorry. I really am.

Does anyone care up here?

This past week, there were two stories that got very little attention, but if we were in the U.S. they would have been breaking news on ESPN. First of all, imagine if a school suspended a starter on a NCAA basketball team that was ranked in the top-three. Would the school paper be the only place covering it? Not a chance. I’m not taking sides in the Damian Buckley story, but I am just a little confused as to why Canadian media doesn’t care about college sports, especially considering how big it is in the States.

The other story, ironically enough, comes from the U.S. The NCAA announced that they will be modifying their rules to allow Canadian schools to join any of their three divisions. Rumour has three schools making the jump. Has anyone heard this story? If you say no, you probably aren’t alone. This can have a huge impact on the CIS as we know it, and not a peep except for a small mention on Sportsnet’s website. I admit, someone even told me about this story, since I’m more of a TSN guy myself. I’ll tell you that this story piqued my interest so check The Concordian in the coming weeks for more coverage.

NFL Playoff predictions

Well, after the New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football in their return to the Superdome, I wrote in the Sept. 27 issue of The Concordian, “No matter the wins or losses they put together this season, Brees, Bush, Benson and all the other players and staff wearing black and gold are Saints. For the people of New Orleans, they are Saints not only by uniform but also in the true meaning of the word.”

Well, I had no idea that they would win their division and make it to the NFC championship game. I don’t think there has ever been a better story in sports. Yes, the New York Yankees played their way to the World Series the same year that the Sept. 11 attacks happened, but more people hate the Yankees than George Bush (or, at least it’s close). This is a story where most everyone, except fans in Chicago, Indianapolis and New England, want the Saints to win, and I think they have a darn good shot.

Everyone was complaining how the NFC will lose to the AFC in the Super Bowl no matter who was in it. Well, now, the top two seeds are battling in the NFC while the no. 3 and 4 seeds are battling it out in the AFC. Now people will get to test that statement.

I believe that the Super Bowl will be much closer than people expect. Remember, in the last year, a supposedly inferior National League won the World Series, and the Miami Heat and Carolina Hurricanes both won the NBA and NHL title respectively despite their conference being inferior in the regular season.

My prediction? The Saints will battle the Colts in the Super Bowl. That would be a great game with higher-than-normal ratings because people will want to see if Peyton Manning can win the big game and all of the people who want the Saints to win. Personally, I would absolutely love to see this game as a Saints supporter and a Peyton Manning fan.

But, knowing my past history in predicting games, look forward to a rematch of the 1985 Super Bowl between the Bears and Patriots. And, if that happens I think everyone on this planet knows that Rex Grossman will not make it out of the Super Bowl with a QB rating above, say, 5.5 and the Pats will roll.

Gag me.

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