Gun Control

Delonas is awesome.

Pancake Tuesday

Did you eat your pancakes today? Today is Pancake Tuesday (also known as Shrove Tuesday). Check out the Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday

Many different churches, halls and schools will host pancake suppers today to celebrate the last day before Lent.

Pancakes are so good, I won't argue with a reason to have them for supper.

In case you were wondering, I had an amazing pancake supper at home tonight. Happy Pancake Tuesday everyone.

Chris McQuid
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Ryan's Rant (Volume 1, Episode 4)

Have you ever wondered what extra-terrestrial life would think of life on earth if they did some kind of Star Trek-esque reconnaissance of our planet? What would their report on humankind say? Quick to judge, slow to change? Capable of breathtaking beauty and unspeakable ruthlessness? I would definitely include those things if I had to write the report. We are also capable of just amazing, and frightening, utter stupidity sometimes as well. Stupidity that often goes unchecked.

Who will forget the fact that this country, Canada, chose to allow people of East Indian descent to wear turbans while serving in the RCMP. What does that say to future generations of Canadians? Keep in mind that this has nothing, and I mean nothing, to do with race, but rather keeping alive those things that make us truly Canadian. We are so willing to give up on things that define us so we don’t piss off anyone of a different culture or religious background. Where are we going to draw the line?

Which brings me to the heart of this rant, is fighting in hockey on its way out? Right now, the powers that be are trying to find a way to end this long standing part of this great game. There is a board of doctors who have gotten together, gone public, all in an effort to hopefully end fighting in hockey. And who did they get to help their noble cause, why one of all time great pugilists, Eric Lindros. What? He wasn’t a fighter? Well surely then he was a great man of the game, setting all kinds of records and being a role model to many. What?? None of that either? Hehehe, I jest of course. Not that Eric Mushyhead is on the board, but rather that he was an influential player in the game. His voice hopefully won’t count for much in this debate. Lindros will, with any luck, be remembered more for his screw ups (which there were a lot) instead of his accomplishments (not many). Which begs the question, who the hell thought this was a good idea? This moron started his NHL career by refusing to play for the team that drafted him, opting to follow his dimwitted fathers advice and hold out. The irony of the team he shunned going on to winning the Cup without him is truly satisfying. Add to that the fact that he finished his career with the same amount of Cups he started with (0) is great, he deserves it. I’ve been waiting to go off on this over hyped asshole for so long that I’m practically salivating on the keyboard as I type this. No joke. And I’m getting wayyy off track now.

Has everyone forgotten why Eric Lindros suffered so many concussions? The reason he got his smucked so often was because he simply never learned to play hockey correctly. When he was in the OHL (and previous levels I’m sure) he was able to skate with his head down all the time because he was so much bigger than everyone else. Don’t believe me? Watch film of Lindros getting cranked. He never has his head up. Fatal flaw to be sure, but does that qualify him to sit on a board whose sole purpose is to ban fighting in hockey in hopes of ending concussions? Holy crap NO!

How many years have we been playing this game? How many hockey fights do you think have happened in all those games? All those fights, and we just now finally have a death directly related to that happening. A random freak accident at that, as far as everyone who witnessed it, including the victim’s father.

The real reason we are having an upwelling of concussions in hockey lately is twofold; players have less respect for each other, and equipment is now more offensive than defensive. If you really want to get rid of concussions, start with these ideas. Harder suspensions for head shots and head hunters, and equipment that doesn’t have hardened plastic edges, like elbow pads. The fact is you can never have a full contact, high speed sport like hockey being played without having some kind of release like fighting being built into game play. You would, in fact, make the likelihood of concussions rise by taking fighting out. Ironic isn’t it?

Random thoughts: I wonder how many women are menstruating while playing in Scotties this week? Does it affect shot selection? I guess it sounds better to call it the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, instead of the Tampax Tournament of Bloody Strings.

This rant is mine. There are many like it, but this one is mine. Without me, my rant is nothing. Without my rant, I am nothing.

Obama's First Day on the Job

An Eye for An Eye

Here's a unique story out of Iran from earlier this week. A 31 year old Iranian lady was attacked back in 2004 by a guy who sat next to her in a University class. The guy apparently was constantly hitting on this chick, and she kept turning him down. One night in 2004, this guy came up behind her and threw acid in her face, blinding her for life.

You can read the complete story here.

Now the lady has demanded that the man who attacked her, Majid Movahedi, be blinded himself as punishment. Almost like a legal street justice - an eye for an eye, quite literally. And wouldn't you know it - the lady won! Movahedi is sentenced to be blinded within the next few weeks.

Now this topic isn't going to have anything to do with the punishment that has been handed out. Is it extreme? Sure. But really, in its most basic terms, is it a fair punishment? It really is. No, you wouldn't see a punishment like this handed out in Canada or the USA.....but it was a sentencing handed out by a judge in an Iranian court.

The part that really pisses me off from the entire article is the following quote from some random blogger in response to the sentencing:

"We cannot condone such cruel punishment," wrote one blogger. "To willingly inflict the same treatment on a person under court order is a violation of human rights."

Now here is a typical liberal thinker for you. Liberals care more about criminals and their rights than they do about the victims. But if you happen to kill a tree, watch out. Liberals are people who are so open-minded that their brains have fallen right out.

Read the second part of that quote again:

"To willingly inflict the same treatment on a person under court order is a violation of human rights."

Are you kidding me? What about the human rights of the poor lady who was attacked randomly by some weirdo who should just buy a porn magazine and stay at home. In many ways, her life is ruined. She will never see again. She will have to live with the scars on her face and arms forever. And yet this liberal blogger is concerned about the "human rights" of the attacker? It makes me sick. If it were up to liberals, murderers, rapists and thieves would all live among us with 'minimum supervision' to 'blend them back into society'. Who needs these weirdos in our society?

Here is a good website about repeat offenders in Canada (although the data is a bit dated - back to 2000). It shows that six out of every ten convicted offenders aged 18 to 25 in 1999 and 2000 had at least one previous conviction. So wouldn't it be better to keep these people behind bars? You would think so. But Canada's justice system is an absolute joke.

How about the freak that randomly beheaded a sleeping passenger beside him on a Greyhound bus this past July? The judge immediately ordered that the man undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and only charged him with Second Degree Murder (First is pre-mediated.........I'm not sure why this beheading would classify as Second). Ever notice that the story has been completely dropped from the media now? Any idea why that is? It's because the guy is going to get a slap on the wrist and spend some time in a nuthouse. He won't be held accountable for his actions. Because this is Canada. We allow terrorists to enter our country and live in Montreal and Toronto. We let sex offenders and murderers out of jail after serving less time than a guy in the USA would for smoking a joint. We send the worst criminals ever seen on our soil to psychiatric evaluations instead of to jail or to death row. Canada's justice system makes me sick.

Cartoon of the Day

Delonas has a really great one today - ties in nicely with my previous article about Timothy Geithner.

Sean Delonas

So some people find Sean Delonas (NY Post) a little controversial.....but come on, some of his cartoons are genius! You can view all of Sean's work right here (he generally has a new cartoon every day). You can also check out his past cartoons there as well.

A personal favorite of mine is below (click on the image to enlarge):



Special thanks to James for the heads-up on Sean's work.

King Bond's Verdict (Volume 1, Episode 3)

Now, King Bond has been opening up his mail box to a few questions about hangovers and remedies. Here is a question by Mike from none other than the city of champions, Edmonton.

Q. Dude, I have a killer hangover, how do i cure it?

A. Well, Well, my delinquent young college juvenile. Partying too much in the dorms doing hooter shooters off of big breasted females are we? King Bond has had 103 years of titty shooters and dont that give me the needed experience of telling you the CURE? DAMN RIGHT it does. The enemy is Dehydration.

In my early years, back sniffin panties from strippers at ol' frat parties I learned that a glass of water and 2 advils before i went to bed seemed like the cure. Then, the days came where there were hangover pills and i learned from my vast knowledge that they were just nothing more than Vitamin B12 with added vitamin C. These all work to an extent. Of course there is always oysters and fish oil that also enhance the back-to-sobriety we all seek after a mind blowing bender.

But the real answer of this question came to me back on Black Tuesday October 29, 1929. I was dating a young phillie from Indiana. She was nailin' me cause i was makin' the big bones bein a lawman. I had recently lost a shitload of money off the stockmarket and i decided to get crunked up knowing full well it was Sunday and i had a big court case against none other than Al "Scarface" Capone Monday morning 10 a.m. sharp. So screw it. Centurion time with my boys to get the party rollin, strip club to get horned up for the regular club to get horned up for my old lady.

KING BONDS VERDICT

The Cure. Phfff. harder question. Sex and hair of the dog.

I humped my dirty cheatin' whore of a girlfriend all night and didn't sleep. So in the morning i reached for a fifth of my friend Jimmy beam, beer and clam, and busted the most notorious gang boss for tax evasion sentencing him to 11 years in prison and an 80,000 fine. Not bad on a hangover.

This is the Verdict cause King Bond said so.

GIVE ME THE INGREDIENTS AND I'LL MAKE THE CAKE

Team Hat

Still on the subject of sports teams 'Championship gear', have you ever bought a championship hat? Did you rush out and grab a 'Edmonton Oilers Western Conference Champions' hat in 2006? I'll admit, I did - I have that one and my 'Tampa Bay Rays 2008 AL East Division Champions' hat are the only two such hats I own (and the TB one was to forever remember beating John Fraser in the bet of who would win the AL East).

You see quite a few of these hats around now....especially around here with all of the 'Saskatchewan Roughriders Grey Cup Champions' hats.

This is a bit hypocritical of me to say, owning two championship hats myself, but here's my take on these hats. You don't need one.

Here's why. If your team is consistently competitive (such as, let's say, the NY Yankees), are you going to buy their AL East Division Champions hat every single year? If not, how do you decide which you do buy and which you don't buy? How do you decide which you will even wear?

Here's the solution....buy a regular Yankees hat (or whoever your team is). The logo on that hat, although it doesn't specifically say it, carries each and ever accomplishment and award that team has earned in their entire HISTORY, and in their entire FUTURE. Your team's logo is far more powerful than any 'division champs' hat from 1987 could ever be.

Losing Teams Gear

I'm sure you have noticed that every time you watch a major sporting event come to a conclusion, that the champions are immediately wearing Championship gear. When the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII a few weeks ago, they were wearing "Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl XLIII Champions" gear within minutes after the final whistle.

It's not secret that the reason this happens so fast is that the championship gear is printed for both teams, so that they can cover whoever wins.

But what happens to the gear for the losing team? What happens to all of the "Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl XLIII Champions" hats and t-shirts that are never needed? There have always been theories on what happens with it, but I have the definitive answer for you. The t-shirts, sweaters and hats are donated to World Vision. World Vision then donates these items to children in need. Check out the links at the World Vision website HERE and HERE.

Doesn't it just warm your heart to know that somewhere there is a child who is being kept warm buy a 'New England Patriots Super Bowl XLII Champions' sweater?

Generations and Technology

Do you remember when you were a kid and your dad or grandpa would talk about 'how easy kids have it these days'? And about how much technology has changed ("when I was your age we didn't even HAVE a TV!"). Well I think I might finally know what that is all about.

I got thinking the other day, do you remember when you were a kid and you had your picture taken? Depending on your age, chances are it was either on a Polaroid or a big old camera that you had to take 24 pictures or whatever, and then take it in to get developed. In the latter case, it could be several days before you had your pictures back.

Eventually there came along 1 hour photo finishing.........amazing! You could fill up your roll of film on your giant camera, take it in, and have your pictures back within and hour. You still didn't know if the pictures you took would turn out or not, but you would find out within an hour (give or take).

Do you remember when Digital Cameras came out? Although extremely expensive, they were all the rage. You could take a picture and INSTANTLY see how it turned out. Plus, you could delete the pictures, take new ones, print them yourself......everything is quicker and easier for the user.

As if having this technology wasn't enough, digital cameras got smaller....and smaller....and smaller. The one I have now is only slightly larger than a credit card, and less than an inch thick. And even that camera is a couple of years old now. Digital cameras even appeared in cell phones. At first, this was an 'exclusive' features also for people with expensive phones....but now just about every cell phone has a camera in it. I know older people that use cell phones that didn't even KNOW that their phone had a camera....it's just a given now.

So now, you can actually take a photo or someone or something and have it uploaded to Facebook within about 30 seconds (including the time it took to take the picture) - all wirelessly. And everyone on your Friend's List can view it instantly.

So back to 'when you were young'......I know that I personally (and this just isn't in regards to cameras, but any product really) think WOW....I don't know how they could ever improve this product. But in the example I just gave you above, products evolve until they barely have anything in common at all with the original - other than the function.

One thing I always think about now is cars - how could they POSSIBLY change the looks or add more features to today's car models to keep them fresh for another hundred years? Look at what cars looked like in the 80's to what they look like now. Every single car looks like a high performance race machine....even a Toyota Corolla for crying out loud. And these cars have everything. They will do everything but scratch your nuts....and there is probably a European model that will even do that (or a Kia that does it unintentionally due to shoddy workmanship). So how can cars POSSIBLY evolve from here?

I guess we'll find out.

Young Jeezy

I have a Sirius Satellite Radio in my truck - and while I don't drive my truck much anymore besides on weekends, I usually have it tuned to Sirius Hits 1 (unless there's a football game on of course). Anyone familiar with Hits 1 knows that they have these constant "countdowns" where they play the best new songs (ranked, naturally).

The other day, I happened to hear a little gem called "My President Is Black" by Young Jeezy (ft. Nas).

Now I enjoy rap music as much as the next person.......but when I caught this song (which was probably at least half way through), I would say that a solid 80% of the song was quotes by Obama himself and/or CNN news anchors talking about this historic event. The other 20% was Young Jeezy and Nas rapping.

Now i'm all about capitalism and making a buck....but COME ON. I could have slapped together a few Obama quotes and CNN news feeds and put them together on my computer. Does this song REALLY deserve to be one of the top hits out there right now? Seriously, if this song is actually being played and Young Jeezy and Nas are making money on it, won't the profits be lost in royalties to Obama and CNN?

Young Jeezy and Nas need to get real and start rapping instead of editing audio clips from the internet and calling it a song.

Selling

Wow, my blog posts are starting to get few and far between - it has been a busy week, what can I say. Today I wanted to talk about selling. Now you may think that it takes years of training to become a great salesman, who can make a pitch and knock one out of the park every single time. But as I was out doing some shopping the other day I realized, men are born salesmen.

This particular incidence happened as I was walking through Wal-Mart. A man was standing by a large tool kit, opening it and closing it - picking it up and turning it - looking it over. Right beside him was his wife, and clearly, the man was trying to sell the tool kit to his wife. I even overheard "we can just put everything in it, lock it up and throw it in the back of the truck".

See, men are easily sold. If we see something that we like, we buy it. It doesn't matter if it is something we need (food, gas for the car, toothpaste) or something that we....well, don't need as much (the complete Die Hard Collection on DVD). We don't mess around - if we see it, and we like it, we buy it. But that all changes when you get married.

Then, you have to constantly play the role of the salesman. While men have an awesome "Impulse Buy" sense, women have an even better "Save Money" sense. So how do you overcome the saving money objection so you can buy whatever it is you just found? You give the best damn sales pitch you have ever given. You explain the features, the benefits to both you and your wife (honey having every single episode of Trailer Park Boys on DVD will gives us more time to sit on the couch and spend time together!), and you sell the shit out of it.

Forget all of these books out there about becoming better at selling. If you are a salesman (no matter WHAT product you are selling), just pretend you are trying to sell the item to your wife. You'll probably make more sales than ever.

Todd Bertuzzi v.s. Sean Avery

March 8, 2004

Todd Bertuzzi (then with the Vancouver Canucks) sucker punches Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche in the back of the head on-ice during a game. Moore suffered three fractured neck vertebrae, facial cuts and a concussion.

Bertuzzi was suspended for the rest of the 2003-2004 season (including the playoffs). The 2004-2005 season was the lockout, and Bertuzzi was reinstated for the start of the 2005-2006 season. Steve Moore never played another NHL game.


December 2, 2008

Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery assembles reporters in the dressing room while in Calgary, Alberta to face the Flames. Avery tells the media:

"I am going to say one thing. I am really happy to be back in Calgary. I love Canada. I just want to comment on how, it has become a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I do not know what that is about, but enjoy the game."

Avery was suspended by the NHL for 6 games. Right at the end of his suspension, Avery was informed by the Stars that he would not be welcome back to the team. Finally, on February 7, 2009, Sean was placed on (and cleared) waivers. He has been assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack (the NY Rangers AHL affiliate), although he is still considered a member of the Dallas Stars.

So Todd Bertuzzi is still making his millions playing in the NHL, even though he directly ended another NHL player's career. Sean Avery cracked one joke to reporters in the locker room, and he's being black-balled by the entire NHL (kind of like Barry Bonds with the MLB). He's stuck playing minor league hockey.

REALLY Gary Bettman? Do you even look at past incidents to set a precedent for future suspenions on punishment? Or do you just pull these things out of your ass? I personally have always hated Avery, well before this latest incident......but WOW.....that is some kind of severe punishment.

NFL Pro Bowl

versus

The NFL's version of the All-Star game was played out at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii today. The NFC made a late game comeback to win 30-21. The thing is, does anyone really care?

All-Star games in all major sports are generally brutal. Sure they are usually filled with the best players in their respective league (although even that isn't always true anymore with the addition of fan voting), but the games are usually played half-assed and at half-speed, and are more of a formality than a real game.

As much as it pains me to say this, Bud Selig and Major League Baseball were actually very smart in coming up with an idea to make their All-Star game more exciting.....the winner of the MLB All-Star game (AL or NL) gets home field advantage for the World Series. So it is beneficial for all players involved to try their hardest in case their team does make the Show.

2008's MLB All-Star game at Yankee Stadium was won 4-3 by the AL in the 15th inning on a walk-off sac fly by Michael Young of the Texas Rangers. The game was 4 hours and 50 minutes long. As someone who watched a majority of the latter half of the game (from a bar in North Battleford after our own baseball game), the game was simply amazing. It was full of action and suspense.....in fact, it ended up being better than any of the World Series games later in October (which isn't really saying much).

So what does the NFL do to bring excitement to the game? Well, each player on the winning team receives $45,000, and each player on the losing team receives $22,500. And the Pro Bowl MVP (who was Larry Fitzgerald of the Cardinals this year) gets a Cadillac to take home. Well that is all fine and dandy, but did you actually watch the game today? There was no passion. In one instance, where Peyton Manning was 'sacked' (if you could call it that even), both the player that sacked him AND the referee helped Peyton to his feet. The referee!!! Would you ever see that in a regular season game?

To make matters worse, after 30 years in a row of having the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, and selling it out EVERY YEAR, the NFL has decided that next year they are going to move the Pro Bowl to Miami, and play it the week BEFORE the Super Bowl. To me, this is stupid on two fronts.

First of all, the trip to Hawaii is really a good reward and an excellent way to unwind for all of the players who are playing in it (plus some of the coaches and teammates of these Pro Bowl players, who they often take with them). As someone who has been to Aloha Stadium, I can tell you that the entire area (and the entire island of Oahu) is simply gorgeous. Sure, Miami is nice too.......but many teams get to go to Miami once a year to play the Dolphins anyway. And Miami is NOT Hawaii. Not even close.

Secondly, the NFL is making a big mistake by moving the game to the week before the Super Bowl. This instantly eliminates all players who are going to be playing in the Super Bowl from playing in the Pro Bowl, due to the injury risk. If a team is in the Super Bowl, wouldn't it make sense that they probably have some great players who are deserving of heading to the Pro Bowl? One has to look no further than today's result - Larry Fitzgerald played in the Super Bowl last weekend, and won the Pro Bowl MVP this weekend. With the new rules next year, L-Fitz wouldn't even be in the game.

So with all of that said, here are my ideas to make the Pro Bowl more enjoyable:

-Keep the game at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. They have sold that stadium out every single year it has been hosted there (30 in a row). The trip to Hawaii is a treat for the players and their family/coaches/teammates who accompany them.

-Continue to play the game the week after the Super Bowl. There is more than enough news in the 2 weeks between the AFC/NFC Championships and the Super Bowl that we don't need the media having to deal with the Pro Bowl too. Plus, the Super Bowl teams can send their deserving players as well.

-Make the game mean something. See below.

How do I propose to make the game mean something? Well here it is.

Whichever conference wins the Pro Bowl (AFC or NFC) will "win" the coin toss for the following year's Super Bowl, and will get to choose whether to kick or defer right off the bat.

So with that reasoning, because the NFC won the Pro Bowl today, whichever team represents the NFC in next year's Super Bowl (February 2010) would get to choose whether to kick or receive right off the bat.

Now there is a stat out there that might make this seem meaningless.......the team that has won the Coin Toss in the Super Bowl has a record of 20 wins and 23 losses in the 43 Super Bowls. So according to that, it has actually been a disadvantage to win the coin toss. However, what if you knew, as a team, 2 weeks in advance that you could choose whether to kick or receive right off the bat in the Super Bowl......would you not pick one or the other well in advance and base part of your game plan on it? This could work out to be a huge advantage, and would likely change that "coin toss win/Super Bowl win" record in a hurry.

Do you have any other ideas for how the NFL could make the Pro Bowl more exciting? Send in a comment or drop me a line.

A-Rod and Steroids

According to Sports Illustrated today, A-Rod tested positive for steroids back in 2003 when he was with the Texas Rangers. Is anyone really surprised? My take on the events is below. You can view the article on ESPN right here.

The thing is, the MLB brought this upon themselves. Baseball was in rough shape after the strike, and they needed a way to get the fans back into it.

Players started juicing to get better so they could get bigger contracts (but smaller dicks). The MLB obviously could see guys like McGwire and Bonds and Gay-Rod and Griffey (just kidding) changing from skinny guys like me to big bad bruisers. Guys who normally could only hit 10-20 homeruns a year were suddenly hitting 40-50. The Sosa/McGwire chase of Maris' record was great for baseball - financially.

And with a $17.5 million annual salary, I'm sure Bud Selig was more than happy to turn the other cheek.

Now that the steroid users and abusers are being nailed in the media, it's easy for the MLB to say that they never knew what was going on the entire time, and to start slapping penalties on these guys.

Off-topic, I don't think Roger Clemens' biggest fault should be that he stuck a needle in his ass a couple of times.....it should be that he stuck his weiner in Mindy McCready when he was married, and she was only 16.

United Football League

This is pretty big news....maybe. There is a new professional football league starting up in the United States in September of 2009. This league is the United Football League.

From the Wikipedia page:

The United Football League (UFL) is a professional American Football league, which plans to begin its inaugural season in September of 2009. The league was founded by Bill Hambrecht and Tim Armstrong. Former NFL executive, Michael Huyghue, will act as the league's first commissioner. The league plans to play games on Thursday and Friday evenings in the fall, with the first regular season game kicking off in September and the Championship Game being played in late November.[1]

Jim Fassel, former head coach of the New York Giants, will coach the UFL's Las Vegas franchise. The team, which does not yet have a name, will play their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium.[2]

Basically, the league is going to give players who would otherwise be sitting on NFL benches a chance to start and star in this league. While I don't mind the idea, being a football nut, can any other league really survive next to the mighty NFL? Especially when the games are being played the same time of year?

According to the UFL website, potential team markets at this time include:

-Hartford
-Orlando
-Salt Lake City
-Las Vegas
-New York
-Monterry
-Los Angeles
-San Francisco

My only concern is that the talent pool for good players is already so tapped for the NFL alone........how are there going to be enough good players to go around between two leagues? I guess the idea is that guys that would otherwise be sitting on a bench most of the time (someone like a Matt Cassel, for instance) are going to get a shot to play and show off what they can do.

I think the idea is good overall, because these players are going to come in knowing they aren't considered elite enough to be in the NFL.....and hence they will have more to prove in the UFL. It may make for more exciting games. Only time will tell.

Hey, it can't be any worse than the CFL!

Ryan's Rant (Volume 1, Episode 3)

It’s a pretty surprising world, isn’t it? You just never know when you’re going to surprised by the events around you. Sometimes it’s as simple as finding a $20 in a coat pocket that you forgot about, or getting a free coffee at Starbucks because they mucked up your order. You just never know what might land in your lap. Like take today for instance, I was wondering openly what I might write about, until I opened up the paper. And there in front of me, was a story that just grabbed my attention. Eric Tillman, GM of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, was charged with sexual assault of a 16 year old girl.

Why did this story please me so? Am I a bad person for feeling a small amount of joy that this happened to the Riders instead of, say, the Eskimos? Yeah, I’m a bad person, and yeah, I’m glad it happened to the Riders. Face it, we love to see public figures fall from grace. OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson, Barry Bonds, and so on, and so on. We, as humans, love the morbid. Rubbernecking car accidents is so routine that we hardly think twice about it. Exactly what are you hoping to see? Bloodied faces? Severed limbs? Decapitated heads? Weird.

Eric Tillman, the savior, is probably going to jail. Serves you right Riders fans! Thanks for ripping my Eskmos car flag off of my work truck, breaking it, and throwing it into the street. Now your GM and team are disgraced and he’s probably going to the clink. Isn’t karma a bitch? I wonder if Game On Sports will reduce their 80/20 ratio of Riders to Eskimos stuff in their store to maybe an even 50/50? Will this hopefully shut up some infinitely annoying Riders fans? I hope the answer to these questions is a resounding YES!!

Now before you Riders fans come after my throat, consider this; the RCMP had 6 months to investigate this allegation. 6 freaking months!! This isn’t some random complaint from a drunk hooker that makes people whisper out loud to each other. This is a full blown felony charge against a very public figure linking him to a 16 year old girl. Do you think for a goddamn second that maybe the cops made a mistake and that he’s innocent? How lightly do you think the authorities take a charge of this nature? Don’t you think the cops would surely have their t’s crossed and i’s dotted before dropping this bombshell on the public? You do? Good, because it’s very, very, very likely they did. And it’s very, very, very likely that this is going to get worse before it gets better. Worse, that is, for Riders fans, and I couldn’t be happier for them. If this doesn’t shut them up a little while than nothing will.

This all may sound morbid but ask yourself this: what the hell was Tillman doing in the first place to get caught up in this? He, a 51 year old man, consorting with a 16 year old girl. Stupid. So what’s going to happen to the team now that their supposed moral rudder is facing possible jail time? Could a 3-15 season be on the horizon? We’ll see.


This rant is mine. There are many like it, but this one is mine. Without me, my rant is nothing. Without my rant, I am nothing.

Super Bowl XLIII Rewind

I've got some great stuff for you guys today left over from Super Bowl XLIII. First up, the NFL VP of Officiating (Mike Pereira) has discussed some of the more controversial plays from Super Bowl XLIII. You can read the complete article right here on USA Today. I am also going to post it below, as I consider it "must-read" material.

What if ...? NFL VP says Holmes' celebration was a foul
By Gary Mihoces, USA TODAY

Santonio Holmes should have gotten an excessive celebration penalty after his winning touchdown catch in Super Bowl XLIII.
The Pittsburgh Steelers would have gotten another play even had linebacker James Harrison come up short on his 100-yard interception return touchdown as the first half ended.

If the NFL had it do all over again, it would have done additional review of a fumble by Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner on the Cardinals' final play — though the call was correct.

Those were the assessments made Tuesday on the NFL Network by Mike Pereira, the league's vice president of officiating. The final score stands: Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23. But assorted calls and non-calls leave room for what-ifs. Pereira's reviews:

The celebration

Holmes was deemed by the officials to have had both feet in bounds on his winning 6-yard touchdown reception from Ben Roethlisberger with 0:35 left. The call was upheld on replay review.

But after the play, Holmes did use the ball as a prop when he mimicked basketball star LeBron James' pre-game move of shaking powder onto his hands and tossing the powder in the air. In the NFL, using the ball as a prop calls for a 15-yard excessive celebration penalty.

On the ensuing kickoff, Pittsburgh would have kicked from its 15-yard line instead of the usual 30. Arizona started its final drive at its own 23. Who knows where it might have been had the call been made on Holmes?

"Well, it would have been (called) if we had seen it. It was one of these plays where it happened so far after the play was over," said Pereira.

On Monday morning, commissioner Roger Goodell declined to speculate on the legality of Holmes' celebration after handing out the Super Bowl MVP award to the Steelers receiver.

"I was on the field," Goodell said. "I couldn't even see it."

On the NFL Network, Pereira watched a replay of field judge Greg Gautreaux making the touchdown call and then standing near Holmes.

"Greg Gautreaux makes the call and then does everything I ask him to do: watch, watch, watch. Nothing seemed like it's gonna happen, and this is a great period of time. This is all acceptable celebration."

But after about 15 seconds, as the officials turned away, Holmes got to his celebration. Pereira said the officials were setting up for the extra point.

"You'll see the official turn away here because we're setting up for the try," said Pereira. "Had he ended up facing us, we certainly would have called this. … It is clearly using the ball as a prop and it would have been a foul if we had seen it."

The fumble

With 15 seconds left, the Cardinals had a first down at the Pittsburgh 44. Warner dropped to pass and he was hit by linebacker LaMarr Woodley. The ball came loose and was recovered by defensive end Brett Keisel. It was ruled Pittsburgh ball, and the Steelers ran out the final five seconds.

Both Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt and Warner questioned after the game why replay official Bob McGrath did not give the play a second look.

"Well, it was reviewed," said Pereira. "You just need to understand the mechanics. Inside of two minutes, the replay assistant has a job to do upstairs, and that's to either confirm that the play was called correctly on the field or, if he's not sure, to send it down and have the referee take a look and make the final decision.

"Bobby McGrath had quite a bit of time because we had a penalty associated with the play, so he got to look at all the reviews and he determined, which is correct, that it was a fumble. And it clearly was a fumble (and not an incomplete pass). … He got the confirmation, he phoned to me and to TV to say that he confirmed it. He did his job."

But upon further review.

"Looking back at it, that big of a play, at the end of the game, I'd have sent it down and given (referee) Terry McAulay a chance to look at it again and confirm what McGrath saw and what Terry knew, that it was a fumble," said Pereira. "So you learn, and you go back on this and say the next time it happens, at this point of the game, this big of a play, let's go ahead and get it sent down."

Of Warner's motion before the fumble, Pereira said, "The ball turns in his (Warner's hand) hand before the arm starts forward. It's is the hand that's the key indicator. … He has to have total control. It is a fumble.

The return

With 0:18 left in the first half, Arizona had first and goal at the Pittsburgh one. Warner's pass was intercepted at the goal line by Harrison, who ran 100 yards for a touchdown as time expired.

What if Harrison had been tackled by Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald just short of the end zone with 0:00 on the clock?

"Lost in that (what if) was the fact that there was a penalty called on this play," said Pereira.

The foul was a grabbing the facemask penalty. Pereira said it was on Arizona guard Reggie Wells.

"There was a facemask call on No. 74 (Wells) of Arizona prior to the interception, and so it took this whole element out of whether they would have another play or not because the personal foul by the offensive team before an interception is actually tacked on to the end of the play and then the period is extended," said Pereira.

"So no matter what we would have ended up ruling, even if we would have reversed it (the touchdown) and put it down short, we would have had another play and extended the half."

Fitzgerald ran about 40 yards down the Arizona sideline — while out of bounds — in pursuit of Harrison. Fitzgerald, who brushed by a Cardinals coach along the way, finally turned back onto the field inside the 5-yard line to tackle Harrison as he powered into the end zone. Had Fitzgerald stopped Harrison short, would it have been a legal tackle?

Yes, says Pereira.

"It was a legal tackle," Pereira said Wednesday via email. "The only time you can't go out of bounds is during a kick. Any other time you can go out of bounds, stay out of bounds and even be blocked out of bounds. The only restriction is during a kick."

Very interesting stuff. This was actually Mike Pereira's last year in the NFL....he is now retired. It will be interesting to see who replaces him as "spin doctor" for the officiating crew.

Next up, I believe I owe Mr. Santonio Holmes an apology. I had originally planned to show you pictures that proved that Santonio actually only got one foot down on "the catch".....pictures like these:



But, a picture has finally surfaced that appears to have proved me wrong. And it is as clear as day (click on the picture to enlarge):



However....the picture is missing one key thing. Where is the football? I would assume it is very close to his hands right now, and it COULD be in his hands....but does he really have possession of the ball at this point? Does he ever have possession of the ball AND both feet down at the same time? I doubt there is a picture out there that would tell us for sure. However, if you look at the first picture above where Santonio clearly has possession of the ball, the defender has his arms outstretched, but has not yet touched Santonio. In the "two feet down" picture, the defender is touching Santonio.....so logically we could concur that Santonio did have possession, and then dragged his feet (so he really does have possession of the ball in the third picture).

So Santonio, you have my apologies - you are a true Super Bowl hero.
NFL referees.....not so much.

Snuggies

I'm sure most of you have heard of the 'Snuggie' and have watched it's awful commercial that airs constantly on TV. I was forwarded the following link to a blog about the Snuggie.......and it is one of the greatest things I have ever read. Here is my Thursday gift to you:

Joe Posnaski - Snuggies

Michael Branda, who came up with the name for my blog, actually bought a couple of Snuggie's for his family. He was quick to come to the defense of the Snuggie:

"Listen. I have a fiance who is ALWAYS cold. I have electric heat which is a fucking ball buster in the winter. For $20 since the day it was delivered, I haven't heard her once complain about being cold while we're watching tv or I'm doing my VBL work haha. It's worth it. Although the competitor has a better name (Slanket) you can't beat the snuggie price.... the thing is fucking huge though"

Ryan's Rant (Volume 1, Episode 2)

Many people believe there is a perfect balance the universe maintains for itself. We are taught early on of these opposing forces, for every action there is an equal an opposite reaction, yin and yang, light and dark and so on. Take a look around your own world and I’ll bet you can find your own examples. How many times have you stepped in a pile of dog shit on the sidewalk by accident, only to have some insensitive prick stand there and laugh at you until he gets hit by a falling piano which crushes his skull into small pieces leaving little spatters of brain on the sidewalk? What? It can too happen!

Well, this universal balance has also found its way into professional sports. How else can you explain why Canada can produce the best hockey players in the world, and can also produce the most inept, uninformed, and annoying hockey announcers/analysts? It’s a goddamn paradox of epic proportions.

Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun is so fat that you can use his suit as a replacement sail on the Bluenose. Really. No Joke. He’s so fat that all he can seem to find for a job is to write about how awful professional athletes are in the city of Edmonton. Who’s the dipshit that decided this would be a good job for him to have? How do these professional athletes take him seriously? Can you imagine training 6 or 7 days a week, eating right, and working your ass off for a team in Edmonton only to have your intensity questioned by a guy whose idea of a good time is spreading a small vat of KFC gravy of his wife’s’ back and then licking it off. He is an absolute joke of sports journalism.

Pierre McGuire, where do I possibly begin? It’s not that he’s the dumbest, it’s not that he’s the most inept, and it’s not that he’s that terribly uninformed. It’s that he is, by a large country mile, the most annoying sot ever to be put on TV. He is so desperate for his (ugh) “monster” catch phrase to become part of our language that he has resorted to using about 15 to 20 times during a broadcast. Hey, we get it, ok. It’s your thing. That doesn’t make it suck any less. It hasn’t caught on because it SUCKS, ok! Believe me, I laughed my ass off when your bald melon got whacked during that game you called from between the benches. How come that’s never made it on to a TOP 10 list? Pierre, stop trying so hard.

These 2 guys pale in comparison to our last entry, who wins going away. As is far away, as in the left coast away, as in not good enough for the large sports-crazy fan base of the eastern time zone away. Don Taylor of Sportsnet Pacific is the worst broadcaster in Canada. Yeah, I said it. The worst now and, quite possibly, ever. Don has somehow managed to shoehorn his head so far up the Vancouver Canucks backside that he, without fail, manages to make them the top story of any broadcast. I mean any broadcast. It doesn’t even matter if they are playing that night, in fact, the Canucks are the lead story in the middle of July most times. He also manages to bad mouth future Hall-of-Famers that play against his precious Canucks. It’s like watching a car wreck happen right in front of you, on a nightly basis, I just can’t turn away, it’s that bad. At the time of this writing, the Canucks are mired in a 7 game losing streak during the beginning of the stretch run to the playoffs. Their Savior, Mats Sundin, has personally cost them 3 games with stupid penalties and has scored only 3 points. In fact, the Canucks are 1-8 with him in the lineup. Just when I think there’s no justice in the world, along comes the overrated and over hyped Mats Sundin. I guess the perfect balance does truly exist. Spin that one Don, you useless egomaniacal ass, in the grey suit sporting the black and white trim, ugh.

Although I know picking the worst sports broadcaster in Canada is a subjective process, I stand by my picks. An honorable mention is given to Harry Neale of CBC fame whose “Perspiration is the cologne of achievement” line during the 1995 Stanley Cup broadcast gets his some serious consideration for one these 3 coveted spots. And finally my “Balls on his Sleeve” award goes to Dave Hodge who blasted CBC during a HNIC broadcast because they were returning to regular programming instead of continuing to follow the game into overtime. A move which promptly got his ass fired and secured his spot as one of the most ballsy announcers ever.

This rant is mine. There are plenty of rants out there, but this one is mine. Without my rant, I am nothing. Without me, my rant is nothing.

John Fraser

I want to introduce a very special guest this evening....Mr. John Fraser from 106.1 The Goat. While I don't have a column name and logo for him yet, I will work on it soon. In the meantime, you can enjoy his first guest article here on MPQ (McQuidProQuo - yeah, it was time for a cool acronym....thanks to John for that too).

You can catch John Fraser on air at The Goat in Lloydminster (106.1)
www.borderrock.com

Wed. - Fri.
6 pm - 10 pm

Sat.
12 pm - 6 pm

Sun.
10 am - 4 pm


2 Fails, 2 Wins, 1 meh and a MEGAFAIL

Yes folks the 2009 Juno Awards are out.

Earlier this week the award nominees were announced for the 2009 Juno awards which recgonize the "best" (best being defined as people we've heard of before who put out music this year) in Canadian music. Don't get me wrong personally I LOVE Canadian music some of my favourite bands and artists consist of Sloan, The Trews, Sam Roberts, Matthew Good, The Tragically Hip and so on and so forth, but I was mostly disapointed when reading through some key categories for this year's awards show. So I've orgainized a few of the categories under my own not so unique headers and I think its time we all shared our thoughts and innermost feelings (on the Junos at least)

FAILS

Single of the year

Celine Dion
Taking Chances

Divine Brown
Lay It On The Line

Kardinal Offishall
Dangerous

Michael Buble
Lost

Nickelback
Gotta Be Somebody

Alright so this one is always kind of a difficult category to judge and naturally I'm a little biased here for all things rock, but all these songs range from awful to mediocre. Celine Dion is still around? I thought we deported her to vegas years ago. Either way we've got 2 balads, 2 craptastic pop songs, and one of Nickelbacks worst releases ever (contrary to popular belief I DO like Nickelback I just don't like "Gotta Be Somebody" or "Something In Your Mouth)

My pick...I have to choose one don't I...geez lets just go with Kardinal Offishall I haven't heard the tune...ever but I just can't bring myself to pick Gotta Be Somebody

Album of the year

Hedley
Famous Last Words

Nickelback
Dark Horse

Simple Plan
Simple Plan

Sylvain Cossette
70's Volume 2

The Lost Fingers
Lost in the 80's

Yikes...Hedley should probably never ever ever be featured in the "best" of anything unless we're talking "what band is best received among 14 year old girls." I was going to say this might be the worst nomination ever in this category then I saw...Simple Plan...yep...we're off to a flying start on this one. Nickelback looks like the best of the bunch again from this one and Dark Horse is crippled by a couple poor songs but still not entirley awful and thats where the problem lies, a potential album of the year that I can best describe as "not total crap" Again being a rock fan I don't know the other bands in this category but where the hell is Matthew Good's "Hospital Music", Sam Roberts and "Love At The End Of The World", Matt Mays and El Torpedo "Terminal Romance", THE FREAKING TREWS AND NO TIME FOR LATER...GAHHHH my brain hurts, lets move onto some of the "wins" before I have a seizure.

WINS

International Album of the Year

AC/DC
Black Ice

Coldplay
Viva La Vida

Guns N Roses
Chinese Democracy

Jack Johnson
Sleep Through The Static

Metallica
Death Magnetic

There we go...finally a category that top to bottom is full of solid stuff, but I'm just going to stop and make an observaion, I would consider 4/5 of those discs rock albums, why is it we neglect to regonize our locally grown rockers while giving all the acolades to international rock bands, oh well this category should just be re-titled "5 discs you should probably own"
My pick, Death Magnetic, but Coldplay will probably take it home.

Rock Album of the Year

Matt Mays & El Torpedo
Terminal Romance

Protest The Hero
Fortress

Sam Roberts
Love At The End Of The World

Sloan
Parallel Play

The Trews
No Time For Later

Phew...here I was thinking we were in line for another Jethro Tull beats Metallica for "hard rock album of the year" moment I'm surprised Kalan Porter wasn't nominated for this category, speaking of him I think he served me my double double the other day...

My pick, The Trews, No Time For Later

MEH

Group of the year

Great Big Sea
Nickelback
Simple Plan
The Trews
Tokyo Police Club

Well...this one I'm kinda lukewarm about I mean you have the obligitory nod to the veteran group (Great Big Sea) two bands that should probably win (The Trews, Nickelback) one band I haven't heard enough about to judge them (Tokyo Police club) and...Simple Plan...Simple Freaking Plan all I can explain that one with is whoever has the final say on who gets the nods for nominations was one short for the category this year and raided his 12 year old daughter's cd player and penciled in the first Canadian band he/she saw. My picks, Nickelback will win, The Trews SHOULD win. This brings us to my final mind boggling moment, ladies and gentlemen your 2009 juno's MEGAFAIL

MEGAFAIL

Songwriter of the year

Alanis Morisette
Dallas Green
Gordie Sampson
Hedley
Nathan Ferraro

honestly Hedley, you have no business being in the same category as great songwriters like Dallas Green and Alanis Morissette. Lets take a quick look at some Hedley lyrics...

And I do wanna love you

If you see me running back

And I do wanna try

Because if falling for you girl is crazy

Then I'm going out of my mind

So hold back your tears this time

Wait I think I heard another band pull out something like that...oh yeah it was my buddy's band in high school, he was trying to impress a girl, we were 16 and couldn't write a decent lyric if you paid us. Apparently your great songwriting skills could finally get you that girl Hedley and for that I'm proud of you, now please, go write some deeper music. Admittedly the only nominated disc I've heard in its entirety is Dallas Green's Bring Me Your Love. My pick? Should be Dallas might be Alanis both I'm fine with.

You can find a complete list of ALL the nominees for every category at http://www.junoawards.ca/nominees-2009/en/categories.html


comments? john@borderrock.com

Obama......

I don't know if I can even keep up to Obama's hair-brained ideas anymore.

Check out this blog at the National Post for the latest.

So now, thanks to Obama, the top executives at financial institutions are going to have their pay 'capped' at $500,000. So it doesn't matter how much work you do, how hard you work, whatever.....you are capped. Is that even legal? Well, I guess in Obama's Socialist World (OSW). I'm sure we are going to be seeing more and more OSW each and every day.

Sure, $500,000 a year is a pile of money. But as the blog mentions, the result of capping salaries is bad bad bad. The best and brightest minds are going to leave the financial world and head to places where they can make more money. So you have the people who are the best at what they do leaving their jobs in the middle of a crisis in their industry.....wow, that should really help things rebound.

Baseball

It's almost that time of year again....pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training next week! I don't know if there is anything more exciting than Opening Day...except MAYBE Christmas.

I have been a long time fan of the Houston Astros, but it's pretty hard to find Astros news on the web - especially news that is updated regularly, and especially this time of year.

Not long ago, I finally stumbled upon a website called Astros County, which is actually a blog. James who runs the website is updating the website constantly, and he has a ton of great statistics and insight in regards to the Astros (and other MLB teams and players). I recommend you head on over and give it a read.

On that note, James actually interviewed me today, and the interview can be read right here on his blog. Go take a look!

Equalization

Well, Danny Williams and Gilles Duceppe are both back to doing what they do best - bitching about their lack of handouts from the Canadian Government. It's funny how Gilles always whines about how the Conservative's don't care about Quebec and are constantly trying to screw them....but did you know that equalization payments to Quebec have risen 74% since the Conservatives came to power in 2006?

Some other interesting facts about the handouts Quebec gets already:

-$8.3-billion of the $14.2-billion pot of equalization money next year
-PLUS $5.7-billion in health transfers
-PLUS $2.5-billion in social transfers

So Quebec will be receiving somewhere in the neighborhood of $16.5 billion.......but they don't want to be Canadian anyway.

In contrast, Alberta actually has to PAY to be Canadian.......we send money to Ottawa, which is redistributed to the "have-not" provinces (such as Quebec and, as of this year, Ontario).

(Info on this blog at the National Post).

Super Bowl XLII (Yes, last year....)

I was going through some old e-mails today and found this.........this is fantastic.

Click here to check out what i'm talking about.

I can't take the suspense.......so I have to tell you what it is. From the item description:

New England Patriots 19-0 Super Bowl XLII Champions 24KT Gold Coin

Gee, that's funny......I could have sworn that the NY Giants won Super Bowl XLII....oh wait, that's because they did. It's too bad the item is out-of-stock....

I hope Bill Belichick is still enjoying his 18-1 record. Just for the record, 18-1 is one game worse than 19-0.

Poor Misguided Obama

Nice article on NationalPost.com today......here's a good snippet:

U.S. President Barack Obama told NBC News Monday that closure of the Guantanamo prison was a matter of upholding U.S. values and law, and that a failure to do so would ultimately make Americans less secure.

"Can we guarantee that they're not going to try to participate in another attack? No," Mr. Obama said. "But what I can guarantee is that if we don't uphold our Constitution and our values, that over time that will make us less safe. And that will be a recruitment tool for organizations like al-Qaeda."

Wait, what was that first part of that second paragraph?

"Can we guarantee that they're not going to try to participate in another attack? No," Mr. Obama said

Did you want me to repeat that one more time?

"Can we guarantee that they're not going to try to participate in another attack? No," Mr. Obama said

Great work, Obama.

(article can be viewed in its entirety here).

Bosh

This morning on TSN Sportscentre, they showed a couple of guys holding up a sign at last night's Raptors game.

Here is the sign........I am impressed.

Chris McQuid
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Town of Cochrane Mural

Another awesome e-mail that I received today.......here is the text from the e-mail:

For those not living in the West, Cochrane is NW of Calgary and east of Banff, in the foothills of the Rockies. This mural was unveiled last week at the Cochrane Ranch House. Each tile is 1 square foot and has it's own individual picture. Each tile is done by a different artist. All of them placed together form this huge mural. You can click on each tile to view it independently.

You can view the mural by clicking here. Absolutely amazing.

More Deep Thoughts - regarding underwear

Is there a difference between Ginch and Gonch?

Chris McQuid
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Obama's Trade War

FINALLY, someone in the US is starting to realize that Obama's 'Buy American' plan might not be the best idea right now.

Obama is an idiot.

Super Bowl Ads

Another great thing about the Super Bowl is that you get to watch all of the expensive new commercials in between the action. Last year, on my Bell HD receiver, I was actually able to watch the game WITH the much better American commercials. Bell had set up an entirely separate channel which was a feed of the game with the American commercials.

OF COURSE, the CRTC got ahold of this...........and we will no longer be able to get American commercials here in Canada.

Looks like it's endless Tim Horton's and Canadian Tire ad's for us today. Canada is a joke.

Super Bowl XLIII

We are mere hours away from what is arguably the best sporting event of the year. Each year the Super Bowl is an excuse to get drunk on a Sunday and swear at the TV with your friends.

This year, both teams playing off for the Lombardi Trophy come as a bit of a surprise.

Arizona Cardinals v.s. Pittsburgh Steelers
versus

For the past two weeks, I have done my fair share of research on Super Bowl XLIII, trying to determine who might win. One of the best resources, and I recommend you check it out if you haven't already, is ESPN's Football Today Podcast. You can download the Podcast for free by clicking on that last link. I download the podcast every day and listen to it on my way home from work, and it is absolutely the best way to get run-downs on games all through the regular season and the playoffs.

The Vegas odds are going to close where they opened - the Steelers are 7 point favorites, and the Over/Under is set at 46.5 points.

I have stated all along that the winner of the AFC Championship Game (between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers) would go on to win the Super Bowl. So my bold prediction is the Pittsburgh Steelers to win Super Bowl XLIII.

I could post hundreds of small tidbits of information that lead me to believe that Pittsburgh will win.....but they are irrelevant because I predicted Pittsburgh would win even before I knew who they were playing. There is ONE THING that stands out as to why Pittsburgh will win, and it's something that you have heard a thousand times.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS.

Who honestly thought that the Giants would beat the Patriots heading into Super Bowl XLII last year? Sure, you may have hoped for the Giants....you may have even thought that they would keep it close. But after rolling through the regular season with an NFL first PERFECT 16-0 regular season, plus winning two tough playoff games, who really believed that the Patriots could be beat? But the Giants defense got pressure on Tom Brady and made him rush his throws - before stud receivers Randy Moss & Wes Welker were ready - and the Giants were able to keep it close enough that they gave Eli a chance to win it in the end - and he pulled it off.

While the 2008 Cardinals are really not even in the same league as the 2007 Patriots (in terms of offensive production), the teams are similar. They are pass-first teams with suspect running games that put a pile of points on the board. The Steelers defense is going to need to come to play....but don't they always?

Two awesome links for you to check out before the big game later today:

-ESPN's Madden 09 Super Bowl XLIII simulation
-ESPN's Super Bowl Intel Report

With everything i've said above......i'm still cheering for the Cardinals. Being a Browns fan, it is impossible for me to bring myself to cheer for our rival Steelers. So although it may be in vain, i'm going to be rooting for Warner, Fitzgerald, Boldin and all the other redbirds in the hope that they can pull out the upset.

Enjoy the game everyone, it should be a good one!