LOS ANGELES, CA – It’s December; the home stretch for NFL 2011 and a month of holiday parties. A lot of office work that has to be done before the break, all that shopping is yet to be done and you haven’t even thought about what your Christmas card is going to be. Likewise, the NFL is entering its hectic crunch time; four games left the playoff picture is coming a bit clearer:
At last a genuinely entertaining game, the Giants shook off an embarrassing drubbing from the league’s third best team last week (maybe second if you aren’t fully sold on San Fran), and nearly beat the best this week. A moral victory? Nope, but with Bradshaw back, and two of their final four games coming against Dallas (the other two against the Redskins and Jets), you just might be able to call them CONTENDERS.
The Jets don’t have a tough schedule either, but being a mediocre team means going 2-2, which won’t be good enough. PRETENDERS.
The Detroit Lions were first half darlings (along with the Bills, which don’t even rate mention in this post any longer), but with Suh missing two games for thuggery and again leading the league in penalties and brutality in another loss, they’re playing more like the Detroit Pistons of the 1980s. Too bad, I was rooting for them, but PRETENDERS.
Tim Tebow uses his BJPs – Baby Jesus Powers – to win football games. Nobody believes in him, he’s an underdog scorned by the liberal media and the “elites” will testily tell you that it’s a team effort that’s winning these games for the Broncos. Ladies want to pray with him, men want to have a beer with him… though he’ll have a lemonade while you have the beer. He’s pure red-state fodder, and it isn’t hard to predict a future in politics where people will vote for him not for any reason more tangible than “He gets the job done.” This is how Armageddon begins, people. I see Tim Tebow either running for president, or competing on a future season of Survivor, or both. As for Denver, they haven’t exactly been beating playoff caliber teams (sorry, Vikes fans), but apart from the Patriots the next four weeks continue that trend (starting with a Bears team next week that could be starting Donovan McNabb). CONTENDERS.
Madonna is singing at halftime of the Super Bowl. Have they just given up on these? PRETENDER.
Switching sports, the HOT STOVE heats up this week. The Florida Miami Dade Marlins with their push to sign big names like Heath Bell and just giving $102,000,000.00 to the perpetually-injured Jose Reyes, are borrowing the philosophy of the crosstown Heat,or the Philadelphia Eagles, and better hope their upside down Wonder Woman symbol sells a lot of tickets. PRETENDERS.
And finally, Brian Cashman looks to be bucking to take over The Mission Impossible franchise, deciding to repel down a 22-story building… or was he just practicing his escape from any potential deals that involve Montero, Banuelos, and Betances. When he hasn’t been dressing like an elf and performing public stunts, Cashman has been standing pat on any blockbuster deals so far, making some Yankee fans antsy…but it’s worked before so why not stay patient. CONTENDER.
