SimonOnSports

The last weekend of the season provides confusion all around. Will the Bengals, Pats, Packers, Chargers, Colts all sit guys? I have no idea. This week is a crapshoot. 1. Tennessee Titans (-4 1/2) at Seattle Seahawks The Seahawks have packed it in this season while the Titans will be eager to get Chris Johnson a W and end this disappointing season on a high note. 2. Cleveland Browns (-1 1/2) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars The Jags need to win and get boatloads of help to get into the playoffs. Problem is they aren't a good team and the Browns will save Mangini's job and get him a W. 3. Kansas City Chiefs (+12 1/2) at Denver Broncos Last time the two played the Chiefs were miserably embarrassed. This week is their playoff game though and behind Charles I expect them to keep it close. 4. Oakland Raiders (+10 1/2) vs. Baltimore Ravens The Raiders have been decent at home and have pulled off a few shockers already this season. Could they shock the Ravens and knock the...

Apparently the Jets Organization and the people that run Giants stadium really don't want the Jets mob to be really really drunk and really really angry in the case the Jets lose on Sunday. Therefore the Jets will not be serving beer during the final game at Giants Stadium, seems kind of unfair that the Giants fans got to drink during their miserable performance last weekend but the Jets fans will just be forced to pregame very very hard during their 8 pm game on Sunday. Oh well, I will be watching the game at home with a beverage of my choice.

Below I have some of the programs for many of the old defunct bowl games. They all are colorful and some of the bowl names are ridiculous. Bowl Programs in Order: All American Bowl, Aloha Bowl, Blue Bonnet Bowl, Boardwalk Bowl, California Bowl, Camellia Bowl, Cherry Bowl, Christmas Festival, Copper Bowl, Freedom Bowl, Garden State Bowl, Gotham Bowl, Hall of Fame Bowl, Harbor Bowl, Lodi Grape Bowl, Oahu Bowl, Oil Bowl, Peach Bowl, Pecan Bowl, Pineapple Bowl, Raisin Bowl, Tangerine Bowl Programs are courtesy of MMBolding .

I've Created a Petition addressed to the St. Louis Rams entitled " Save Steven Jackson ". I think you should sign it. Here's what the petitions says: To: St. Louis Rams It is time for Steven Jackson to be given what Barry Sanders never was, an opportunity to showcase his skills for a legitimate NFL contender. Steven Jackson has been on the Rams since 2004. He has yet to play for a team that has won more than 8 games in an NFL season. Over the past three seasons his talent has been completely wasted on teams that have won a combined 6 games (3 in 07, 2 in 08, 1 in 09, 0 in 10?). He has rushed for over 1000 in each of the past 5 seasons, even managing to get over the total in 07&08 while missing 4 games in each. Steven Jackson is a beast. On a good team he might rush for 1800 yards a season. Instead he is stuck on the worst team in the NFL. So please St. Louis free the dreadlocked beast. Trade him to a contender so that he can stop squandering his talents i...

Wow You Guys Suck: The Rams, It's time to trade Steven Jackson. Seriously, let him enjoy a chance to play for a good team that does not start a quarterback named Null. You can get a late first round pick for Jackson. Get it done. Free him from your shackles. Runners Up: the Giants, the Lions. Cough Cough Cough: Derrick Mason, If the Ravens had beaten the Steelers they would be in the playoffs and they had the opportunity to do so but Derrick Mason let it slip through his fingers. All Mason had to do was catch a wide open touchdown in the back of the endzone and the Ravens win. he did not and now they are forced to beat the " Should Be Playoff Team " Oakland Raiders. Runners Up: The Dolphins should play in the first half too, the Broncos are sinking...sinking away. The Shocker: New York Giants, The fact that they came out in the last game of Giants Stadium with a chance to make the playoffs and basically got embarrassed is an absolute joke. I don't think a...

Here's a quick look at the recruiting rankings via scout for each of the ten teams in the BCS Bowl Games. Obviously the numbers are what you would expect. Ohio State, Florida, Alabama and Texas are leaps and bounds ahead of the other teams. While the Wall Street Journal claims that "Top Recruits are Not a Prerquisite to the BCS", it certainly is the biggest key for repeat trips to the BCS. Obviously, TCU, Boise State and Cincinnati are in the BCS thanks to their undefeated records. While they don't have the recruits to matchup up with the big boys from the Big Conferences, they also don't play the same caliber of schedule and none have found their ways into the Championship game thanks in part to their lower recruiting numbers (lower expectations = lower preseason poll = lower end of season poll). All in all the BCS Bowl games look pretty even on the grounds of recruiting numbers with the exception of the Sugar Bowl where the Gators look to have a mas...

Chris Johnson is just 128 yards away from becoming the 6th NFL player of all time to rush for 2000 yards. Of the players who reached two-thousand, Johnson has less yards to pick up than three of five players to accomplish the feat. He has 3 more yards than Barry Sanders had, 42 yards more than Terrell Davis and 69 more than OJ Simpson had (granted OJ was through 13 not 15 games). Johnson would be the third player to gain 2000 yards as a 24 year old, but would be younger than both Eric Dickerson and Jamal Lewis before him. Here's two different graphical views of the game to game progressions of rushing yards for each 2000 yard season along with Chris Johnson's potential accomplishment in 2009.

Just in case you forgot earlier in the season why you do not draft Peyton Manning on your fantasy football team, Jim Caldwell was here to remind you. In my league (A winner take all league), the league commish drafted Peyton Manning and made it all the way to the finals (after edging me in the semis). I told him he was pretty much screwed because Peyton was going to sit in the second half and the Jets were going to give up at most 18 points to him. I was right on both accounts, though 18 points was way high he had just 8. Needless to say Peyton Manning's benching cost him the championship and once again proved why you do not draft Peyton despite his consistent awesomeness. He may have gotten it done in the real playoffs once, but he is a consistent bust in the fantasy playoffs.

~One minute you think basically the biggest news of the college football season is about to go down, the next minute you realize pretty much nothing has happened. On Saturday night, the nation thought Urban Meyer was done. He burnt out. He needed to save his health. He needed time off to make sure he didn't die. The next minute we realize that what this actually means is he needs a vacation for a few months to recharge his batteries and get ready for life without Tebow. ~I'm enjoying the Vikings skid almost as much as I am enjoying the Jets being gift wrapped a playoff spot. I am very much looking forward to the Vikings getting bounced after a late arm punt and have a very large desire for this to happen against the Packers in round 1. (It could with a Eagle & Cardinal win and a Vikings loss)

The Rockets are obviously interested in getting rid of Tracy McGrady and the Knicks are obviously interested in getting rid of Eddy Curry and clearing up the entirety of their 2010 free agent cap space. The only way this possibly works is if the Knicks can convince the Rockets of two things: 1) It will improve them this season. 2) There is a piece of the pie in the future that will be a nice shiny chip for them.

Last week I asked Santa if he could find it within himself to pull out a miracle and put the Jets in the playoffs. Little did I know that Santa is in fact real and that he is able to jump into bodies and take control. How else could you possibly explain sunday? A few things weren't really jumping out on a limb over the weekend. It was no miracle that the Jaguars lost to the Patriots. The Jaguars really aren't good. It wasn't a miracle that the Texans beat the Dolphins. Both team shared an equal record and it's been evident all season that the Dolphin secondary was the weakest link. It wasn't a miracle that the Steelers beat the Ravens. The Steelers are the defending champs, they were playing at home, and the Ravens helped out with a flag or two... ok maybe Santa helped a little on the Derrick Mason drop. It wasn't a miracle that the Broncos lost to the Eagles. The Eagles might get a bye in the NFC playoffs.

The AFC playoff picture could become a jumbled mess if lots and lots of losses happen. If two wins happen than its pretty simple. So let's take a look. 1) Why do the Jets have the Edge at 9-7? The Texans and Steelers have a worse conference record so they are immediately eliminated. The Jets would have the edge over Ravens and Broncos thanks to common games. These games being Patriots, Colts, Bengals, and Raiders. The Jets would be 4-1 against those teams. The Broncos and Ravens would be 3-2 and 2-3 respectively.

Dear Santa, I haven't asked for much for Christmas over the past few years but I have a lot to ask for right now. See I want the Jets to make the playoffs and am going to need a near miracle for that to happen. First I need the Jets to beat both the Colts and the Bengals. This practically going to take a minor miracle in its own right. Than I need lots of teams to lose. I need the Dolphins to lose. I need the Jaguars to lose. I need either the Ravens or Broncos to lose. Preferably both. It probably wouldn't hurt if the Steelers lost as well. So umm, not sure how you're going to make this happen and if you have enough magical pixie dust in your oversized tummy to get this done but it's what I want for Christmas. Thanks, Simon

Making this a quick pick post. 1. Philadelphia Eagles (-7 1/2) vs. Denver Broncos The Broncos are about ready to make their push to December collapse. They're like the Cowboys of the AFC. 2. New England Patriots (-7 1/2) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars The Jags need a win to get in the playoffs but every time they head to New England they get pummeled. 3. New Orleans Saints (-14 1/2) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Bucs are terrible and the Saints will look to get back on track before resting key guys next week. 4. Dallas Cowboys (-6 1/2) at Washington Redskins The Redskins have just about quit this season. 5. New York Jets (+5.5) at Indianapolis Colts The Colts will rest Manning and the Jets will hang tight. Survivor Pick of the Week: Damn You Bengals The 49ers get the Lions at home. The Lions have lost by a collective 9000 the past two weeks The rest of the picks after the jump.

This will give you a brief idea of whom holds the tie-breakers in the event of any 9-7 ties. First let's go over a quick rundown of the order of tie-breakers . Step 1, if it's a 3+-way tie, the first thing you do is make sure there are only 1 team from each division. So... The Ravens would edge the Steelers, Dolphins edge the Jets, Jacksonville edge the Titans who actually edge the Texans (division record).

Step 1: Win two games. Much Easier said than done. If the Jets lose a game the playoffs are immediately out of the picture. Step 2: The Ravens or Broncos need to lose at least one game. The Ravens play in Pittsburgh and Oakland. The Broncos play in Philly and home against KC. The best chance for either team to lose is this weekend. If both win the Jets are basically screwed, if either wins they are still alive. Obviously if either/both loses two games that would be lovely, especially the Broncos as you will see later. Step 3: The Dolphins and Jaguars both need to lose a game. Step 4: And you're in. Maybe...

Well we are finally done with the Blogging the Offseason series having interviewed at least one person from each team. Here's the Glossary of all the interviews done. AL East New York Yankees 1 & 2 Boston Red Sox Toronto Blue Jays Baltimore Orioles Tampa Rays AL Central Chicago White Sox Detroit Tigers Minnesota Twins Kansas City Royals Cleveland Indians AL West Texas Rangers Oakland A's Los Angeles Angels Seattle Mariners NL East New York Mets Philadelphia Phillies Florida Marlins Washington Nationals Atlanta Braves NL Central Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals 1 & 2 Milwaukee Brewers Pittsburgh Pirates Houston Astros Cincinnati Reds NL West San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants Los Angeles Dodgers Arizona Diamondbacks Colorado Rockies

It's the end of the decade. So it's time for some lists. Today's list is the Worst NBA Teams of the past decade. 11. 01-02 Golden State Warriors , 21-61 - The 01-02 Warriors were essentially a young version of the Wizards. The team wasn't quite sure it knew what Agent Zero was as he only played 24 minutes. Antawn Jamison led the team in everything with Larry Hughes and Jason Richardson not far behind. 10. 03-04 Orlando Magic , 21-61 - It's the "I'm gonna be such an ass and shoot so much that my general manager is going to feel compelled to trade for Steve Francis" Tracy McGrady season. A year after McGrady said "It feels so good to be in the 2nd round" he decided to shoot shoot shoot his team all the way to 21-61. 9. 00-01 Chicago Bulls , 15-67 - This version of the Bulls was just too young to get Ws. They had some solid pieces with Elton Brand (21), Ron Artest (21) and Brad Miller (24) holding down the paint but their point gu...

It's time to play the what if game. The Jets are 7-7. Their quarterback, Mark Sanchez, is 29th out of 33 quarterbacks in QB rating. He is second in the NFL in interceptions with 20. So what would the Jets season look like if they had brought in Jeff Garcia after he was released by the Raiders. Over the past two season Jeff Garcia has started 25 games, has thrown for 25 tds and just 10 interceptions. This is vastly superior to Mark Sanchez's performance thus far. Obviously it's a guessing game to what the Jets record would be like with Garcia over Sanchez but here's what I could imagine the season progressing like... Week 1 @HOU: The Jets defense dominates the entirety of the game while Garcia replicates what Sanchez did throwing for a modest amount and picking up the W. 1-0. Week 2 NE: Tom Brady's early season woes continue and the Jets defense once again flusters the Pats and Randy Moss while Garcia again replicates Sanchez numbers (163 1 td). 2-0 Wee...

Watching the Jets game yesterday all I could think about was how they were dominating the entirety of the game yet they were going to find someway to lose. There really was no other reason to think pessimistically other than the fact I am a Jet fan and its what we do. Throughout the game the Falcons gave you absolutely no reason to believe they were going to score a touchdown. Roddy White was engulfed by the blanket that is Darrelle Revis. The Falcons rushing attack was stonewalled. Tony Gonzalez was relatively quiet. The Falcons were doing nothing well. The Jets on offense meanwhile were occasionally putting themselves in position to score, yet failing each and every time. Outside of the bomb to Braylon Edwards the Jets had three field goal attempts. Kellen Clemens dropped the snap on the first field goal, Jay Feely pushed the 2nd field goal right and finally Feely got his third and final kick blocked. To a casual observer it likely looked as if this game was deadlocked an...

With the college football regular season over it's time to shift The Big 5 over to college hoops. Xavier Musketeers at #17 Butler Bulldogs (Sat 2) The battle between Butler and Xavier will put a nice quality win in the resume. Butler has been about .500 this season in their big OOC games with this being their last tester. Xavier had lost all of their big games thus far until their win last weekend over crosstown rival Cincy. The loser of this game just might need a tremendous run in conference to make the tournament. The Pick: Xavier by 2 Florida State Seminoles at #15 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (FSN, Sun 5:30) The ACC schedule started already? This seems a bit early, but regardless the matchup of Florida State and Georgia Tech will set a good starter for two teams looking to get into the tournament and slide into the 3rd or 4th spot in the conference. The Pick: FSU by 2

Blogging the Offseason is a 30 team series in which I ask a blogging representative from each MLB team a series of ten questions about their desires and thoughts surrounding the offseason. Check out all of them here . And now time for our final edition of Blogging the Offseason. Up today isthe Florida Marlins and our guest is Michael Jong from the Marlins Blog, Marlins Maniac . 1. This answer is probably obvious but... any chance the Marlins go out and bring a big free agent? Or will all their signings be roster fillers? That's an emphatic "no" on the big free agents question. However, in terms of filler, the Marlins are always out to look for new blood for the bullpen and on the bench, and they usually do this by checking out the talent available at the league minimum. Usually, the Marlins scour non-tendered players in order to find bodies to fill these less important roles, but this season I have been recommending the team look at a $2M or so investment on a play...

Here's a quick chart which shows all of the NFL teams and where they rank both offensively and defensively in yardage totals in the NFL. The closer you get to point (1,1) the better and the closer you get to point (32,32) the worse. We've broken the chart into four quadrants. Quadrant A is where you want to be. It means you're in the top half both offensively and defensively. Quadrant B means you're in the top half defensively but bottom half offensively. Quadrant C means you're top half offense bottom half defense and Quadrant D means you suck. Of the 9 teams within Quadrant A only the Giants sit outside of the playoffs right now. The teams in Quadrant D are all essentially screwed except for perhaps the Jaguars. The Saints, Colts and to an extent the Cardinals give up a lot of yardage but more than make it up offensively. A cursory look at the chart shows that the Steelers and the Giants are the two biggest underachievers thus far this season with the Je...

Tomorrow begins the wondrous bowl schedule with that it's time for some Bowl Pick'em. Join up here with password YayBCS. And for the record here are my picks. Don't copy them or you will lose.

I'm bringing back the blowout because well it's time for people to waste at least 10 minutes watching video every friday again. Remember, being a mascot does not require intelligence.

If you are looking for a single individual that epitomizes the Scott Boras method of free agency, look no further than Johnny Damon. Johnny Damon loves money. His goal in free agency is to grab as much money as possible regardless of where it leaves him. Money is what matters to Johnny, to hell with the rest. Let's travel back in time to the 05-06 offseason when Johnny Damon was a fresh free agent. Johnny was the face of the Boston Red Sox. He was a lynchpin in the Red Sox 2004 curse breaking World Series Champions. He was universally loved by all Red Sox fans and universally hated by all Yankee fans. Of course Johnny Damon was going to stay in Boston. Life was seemingly perfect, how could he possibly want to leave when the Sox offered him a solid contract and when he was already quoted in the papers saying that he would never play for the Yankees. Money, that's how. Johnny jumped to New York for the additional cash. It was essentially the singular difference between w...

I actually didn't suck last week. Wooo. Maybe I can not suck for two weeks in a row. 1. Miami Dolphins (-3 1/2) at Tennessee Titans With Vince Young questionable to go, I think the Dolphins will be able to keep this game tight and I like them to actually win by a point or two. At the very least I like getting the 3 1/2 points. 2. New England Patriots (-7 1/2) at Buffalo Bills The Bills are terrible, the Pats need to prove to themselves that they can win a road game this year and Randy Moss should actually be motivated to stop being a douche. The Pats should roll Buffalo comfortably. 3. Minnesota Vikings (-7 1/2) at Carolina Panthers The Panthers are starting Matt Moore at quarterback. The Vikings need another win to clinch the division and to continue their separation from the Eagles for the NFC bye. The Vikings should cruise. 4. San Diego Chargers (-6 1/2) vs. Cincinnati Bengals The Chargers are on fire and the Bengals are sputtering. This matchup is huge for ...

Blogging the Offseason is a 30 team series in which I ask a blogging representative from each MLB team a series of ten questions about their desires and thoughts surrounding the offseason. Check out all of them here . Our Guest today is Jamey Newberg from the Rangers Blog, The Newburg Report . 1. Josh Hamilton went from beast to injury plagued and mostly absent. What are the expectations for him in 2010? Can he stay on the field? He’s clearly one of Clint Hurdle’s biggest priorities as the club’s new hitting coach. Hamilton was out of sync mechanically last year, and he took on the weight of expectations, trying to match what he’d done in 2008. Add in the injuries and he was never able to find any rhythm, and he lost confidence. He’ll be moved to a corner outfield spot in 2009 (in an effort to reduce the physical toll on him defensively), and the hope is that he can return to form as a legitimate run producer. He doesn’t need to repeat 2008 – just give this team a reliable m...

According to ABCNews , Elin is apparently seeking a divorce from Tiger Woods. Obviously this is a shock to no one. When your husband hits double digits with women he's cheated on you with than, most women gold digger or not, is going to divorce the man. Other than seeing just how much Tiger Woods will have to give up in the divorce settlement, this story is old news. There likely will be a few more ladies to come out and claim sexual relations with Woods but in reality whats the difference between girl #15 and girl #18 at this point. We get it. Tiger Woods was a bad husband. He liked juggling a plethora of women. Now he can do this without "crushing" the life of the woman he supposedly loves and we can all understand that he is far from the perfect man and in fact is no different than all the other athletes in this world that routinely cheat on their wives.