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In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Super Bowl”

Super Bowl odds & ends

The New York Giants win over New England in Super Bowl XLVI confirmed a couple of truths about life in the National Football League.

A team’s regular-season record no longer matters; all that is important is getting into the playoffs and getting the right match-ups once you are there.

At 9-7, the Giants were clearly not the best team in the league during the regular season. But they made the playoffs in part because Dallas fell apart down the stretch and, once there, the Giants made the most of their opportunities.

It helped that New York played a flawed team in Atlanta, a flat Green Bay squad and an over-rated San Francisco team. They also matched up very well with New England.

Read more…

Packers truly are NFL royalty

Green Bay brought it home on Sunday in Super Bowl XLV, filling us with a sense of relief and making sure the jerks didn’t win this time.

Along the way to their NFL-record 13th title – more than doubling the take of the self-proclaimed model franchise from Pittsburgh – the Packers exposed the Steelers weaknesses and, for once, Pittsburgh wasn’t able to weasel its way out.

One of the best parts was listening to whiny Steeler fans today on Sirius NFL Radio. The best one may have been the hoople head who called in to say that, since the Steelers turned the ball over three times, the Packers should have put up at least 45 points. Since they didn’t, that means Green Bay really isn’t a very good team.

And Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy showed he’s the dogs bollocks by having the Packers measured for Super Bowl rings the night before the game. Somewhere, over a plate of nachos, Rex Ryan approved.

The Packers put to rest the lie that the Steelers are some kind of NFL royalty; the truth is they are just another franchise.

After winning four Super Bowls in the pre-free agency, steroid-fueled 1970s, the Steelers have picked up just two additional titles in the past 32 years. In that same time period, the 49ers have won five, the Cowboys, Redskins, Giants and Patriots three each, the Raiders, Broncos and Packers two each.

The Steelers are just another team, nothing more.

In fact, since the Browns grew tired in the late ’50s of monopolizing title game appearances, the Packers have won more titles – seven – in the past 50 years than any NFL team. If any team deserves to be treated as NFL royalty, it’s the Packers.

And there is good news for Browns fans in the win, as the Packers proved a West Coast offense can win a title (for those who still doubted). And while we’re not delusional enough to think Colt McCoy is anywhere near Aaron Rogers, it’s not like Jordy Nelson and James Jones – who combined for 14 of Rogers’ 24 completions – are exactly All Pros at the wide receiver position.

Now it’s up to Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert to give coach Pat Shurmur the pieces so the Browns can continue their seemingly never-ending rebuilding process.

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We know we shouldn’t, but after Liverpool’s 1-0 win Sunday against Chelsea, we’re starting to believe in the magic of King Kenny.

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Honestly, we don’t know what all the fuss is over Christina Aguilera have a minor slip while singing the national anthem.

To read some of the comments or listen to the hoople heads on talk radio, you’d think she had burned the flag at midfield.

Don’t we have more important things to worry about right now?

Super Bowl Pick

We’ve finally reached the Super Bowl and we’re sitting comfortably in first place of the The 2010 Cheddar Bay Invitational at Cleveland Frowns.

We’re 7-3 so far in the playoffs, but a slip up this weekend could drop us from the top spot.

As much as it hurts, we’re going with Pittsburgh +3.

We struggled with this pick for a while, but as soon as the line went to three points we knew what we had to do.

This way, when Green Bay wins on a last-second field goal, but doesn’t cover, we get the satisfaction of the Steelers losing and bringing home the cheddar.

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Looks like Dan Gilbert and Quicken Loans may be in a spot of trouble.

According to the article on The Center for Public Integrity, “Lawsuits from borrowers and ex-employees claim Quicken’s day-to-day tactics are at odds with its squeaky clean image. They accuse the company of using high-pressure salesmanship to target elderly and vulnerable homeowners, as well as misleading borrowers about their loans, and falsifying property appraisals and other information to push through bad deals.”

A trial starts Tuesday in Detroit. (h/t to Deadspin)

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No surprise here, as safety officials in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are advising female partygoers not to leave their friends behind with someone they barely know.

Officials said that the campaign — backed by the Safe City Commission, the Women’s Center, the RecoveryResource Council and local law enforcement — has been in the works for a while but that it made sense to launch it in conjunction with the Super Bowl.

We’re sure the fact that the Steelers are in town also played a role in the decision to launch the campaign. (h/t again to Deadspin).

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While looking for something, we came across this NFL Game of the Week video of the Browns beating the Steelers 21-16 in 1973.

Enjoy.

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