Super Bowl XLIII: Steelers vs Cardinals

On the eve of the big game, I am still indifferent on who I want to win and who I think will win.

I have reasons for why I'd like to see the Steelers walk off with the trophy. I like Ben Roethlisberger, I like Mike Tomlin and I think Willie Parker is one of the most under rated dominating backs in football. The Steelers have what Super Bowl teams should... A stud defense and a rugged battle-tested Quarterback. I can see how oddsmakers have Pittsburgh as a 6.5 point favorite.

On the other hand, seeing Arizona win a championship wouldn't be all that bad. It appears more than ever like Kurt Warner has a been blessed by a higher power -- how can you bet against that? And who is going to stop Warner from finding Fitzy or Boldin?? Larry playing like Jerry has made me wonder if any defense, even the best in the NFL, can contain him. And don't underestimate the Cardinals defense who has played on another level this post-season.

That 46.5 over/under number looks pretty tight. Even though both defenses are playing great, I'm leaning towards picking the over. Both starting quarterbacks are Super Bowl champions and shouldn't have any first half jitters -- offenses will be flying from the opening kick. And from a fan's perspective, it's always better when the game has four quarters of back and forth scoring.

VEGAS LOVES THE SUPER BOWL: You can pretty much bet on anything related to the game -- and plenty of things unrelated. From betting on who will score more touchdowns, which team will score first and who will win the games most valuable player, you can put your money down on the coin toss, the game's weather conditions or if Bruce Springsteen is going to bring Courtney Cox on stage at halftime.

As for betting on the game, a safe bet is to take the Steelers. I'm taking the Steelers to win the game straight up, but I would choose the Cardinals with the spread because I think we will see a close game. With young coaches, big defenses, experienced quarterbacks and exciting wide receivers -- neither team will let the other get too far ahead.

MY SUPER BOWL XLIII PREDICTION:

Pittsburgh Steelers 31
Arizona Cardinals 27

Even though I'm picking the Steelers, I'll probably be rooting for a Cardinals victory.

Roethlisberger and Warner have the best odds of winning the MVP, so betting on Big Ben might be a good decision. Hines Ward won the MVP when Pittsburgh won it all a few years ago, his odds are pretty bad because he's coming in with a questionable injury. Larry Fitzgerald and Willie Parker are the next best bets when it comes to winning an MVP. Troy Polamalu has the best odds of any defensive player to win the game's MVP. I am thinking that Willie Parker steals the spotlight, grabs some respect and win's the games MVP.

Leave a comment with your prediction...!

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Steelers vs Ravens (1/18/09)

Think the Ravens had the NFL's best defense this season? Think again. It was the Steelers.

The Steelers (13-4) gave up an NFL-low 237.2 yards per game, the fewest allowed by any team since the 1991 Philadelphia Eagles held opponents to 221.8. Pittsburgh also led the league in scoring defense, allowing 13.9 points per contest.

But by no means was Baltimore far behind. Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan's unit ranked second overall by holding opponents to 261.1 yards per game and third at 15.3 points allowed per contest. Baltimore also led the league with 34 takeaways, and has an 8-1 turnover advantage in its two playoff wins.

This is only the second meeting between the NFL's top defenses in a conference championship game since 1970.

This game will be a classic as Baltimore looks to seek revenge against Pittsburgh who got the best of them in both meetings this season - despite very close games that could have gone either way. Jeff Reed kicked a 46-yard field goal to give the Steelers a 23-20 overtime victory at home Sept. 29, and Roethlisberger connected with Santonio Holmes on a four-yard touchdown pass with 43 seconds remaining as Pittsburgh clinched the division title by stealing a 13-9 victory in Baltimore on Dec. 14.

The big difference in this game, and the reason why I think Pittsburgh will win, is the home-field advantage. The Steelers have won seven of their last eight games against the Ravens in Pittsburgh, a stretch that started with a 27-10 victory in a divisional playoff game Jan. 20, 200 the only previous postseason meeting between these two teams.

Since 1970, home teams are 50-26 in conference championship games -- I think they go 1-1 today.

Another reason why I have to go with the Steelers is because I love head coach Mike Tomlin. Tomlin was the architect of the Vikings Defense before taking over for Bill Cowher. This is the Steelers' fourth trip to the AFC title game in eight years and their first under Tomlin, who already has the team poised for a Super Bowl appearance in just his second season in charge.

Tomlin may not be experienced, but then again, neither is Ravens head coach John Harbaugh -- who is in his first year. And with a first year QB. The Ravens have made that tremendous turnaround not only with a first-year coach, but also a first-year quarterback. Joe Flacco became the first rookie signal-caller to win two playoff games.

Flacco won't get his 3rd win.

My Prediction:

Steelers 19
Ravens 13

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Cardinals vs Eagles (1/18/09)

The Eagles/Cardinals game should be a dandy. Since both teams didn't expect to have a chance to make it to the big game, they are both playing wit house money.

Philly will be playing in their fifth NFC title game in eight years. Philadelphia (11-6-1) and Arizona (11-7) met on Thanksgiving, but few would have imagined that Thanksgiving day game would be an NFC championship game preview. The teams entered that match-up at Lincoln Financial Field headed in opposite directions.

The Eagles had fallen to 5-5-1 after a 36-7 loss at Baltimore in which five-time Pro Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb got benched for the first time in his career. The Cardinals came into the game 7-3 and were on the verge of clinching their first division title in 33 years.

Arizona never got in the game, though, as Philadelphia jumped to a 21-0 lead en route to a 48-20 victory. McNabb completed 27 of 39 passes for 260 yards and a season-high four touchdowns, and has been carrying the team ever since.

That victory provided a spark for the Eagles, as they won four of their last five regular season games, outscoring opponents by an average of 23.0 points in those wins.

Arizona will be the underdog again, as Vegas lists the Eagles as a 3.5-point favorite.

The Cardinals are 7-2 at home this season, including a 30-24 win over Atlanta in the wild-card round, but Philadelphia is not going to be intimidated. After winning just three road games during the regular season, the Eagles have had no trouble playing away from Philadelphia in the postseason. They've already won at the Metrodome, where the Vikings were 6-2 during the regular season, and at Giants Stadium, where New York was 7-1.

I had Philadelphia pegged as a Super Bowl candidate after how they responded to getting killed by Baltimore and having to bench the franchise QB. Philly has dealt with tough Defenses -- I don't think that Arizona will be able to slow them down. Brian Westbrook is just too good to hold down for another game. The only thing that will keep the Cardinals in it is their passing game, but don't be surprised if Asante Samuel shuts down Fitzgerald/Boldin/Warner.


My Prediction:

Eagles 27
Cardinals 21

Blyleven Deserves a Circle (Updated) (1/13/09)

A tribute post to Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame reject and hopeful, Bert "BE HOME" Blyleven.

Blyleven played a very storied career. He entered the league in 1970 where he played 6 seasons in Minnesota before he was traded to the Rangers, then Pirates and then again later to the Indianas. Bert returned to the Twins following a 19 win season in 1984 and finished his career as a California Angel. His ERA was never worse than 3.00 between 1971-1977. His curveball is considered one of the best in the HISTORY of baseball. With 3,701 strikeouts, Blyleven is one of just 13 pitchers who has thrown 3,000 strikeouts - only Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton have more.

Blyleven was a starter on World Series Champions in both the AL and NL (Pittsburgh in 1979 and Minnesota in 1987). His post-season record was 5-1, his ERA - 2.47 in 47 innings of playoff baseball. He officially retired in 1993 finishing his career with a record of 287-250. His career ERA was 3.31, he had 60 shut-outs and 242 complete games (24 complete games in 1986).

Blyleven is considered the BEST pitcher who is NOT in the Hall of Fame. This post is more a recognition of his greatness than a pitch to get him in, even though his comments about the most recent REJECTION have put him in the news.

The last starting pitcher to get a bid to the hall was Nolan Ryan in the early 90's. Unfortunately, Bert's career was injury-plagued, he sat out most of '82 and '83, was named comeback player of the year in 1989 and missed all of 1991. He began his career on a very lousy Twins team where he was the ace of the staff (and won the rookie of the year), but didn't record many wins.

Voters might not like that he only had one 20-win season and never won a Cy Young award. Or maybe it's his career win total.

The bench-mark for starting pitchers to receive an automatic bid is 300 wins. In 1993, Bert tried out for the Twins but Tom Kelly decided not to retain Blyleven because "...the team was going in a different direction". Even though there were other teams interested in his services, Bert retired after 22 years of work only 13 wins shy of 300.

If he would have gotten more run support from his offense during the early part of his career or avoided injuries in the later part, he might have won 320-330 games (330 wins is good enough for 10th all-time). Blyleven has said that 100 of his losses were by 1 run, "there weren't a lot of blowouts". In 1980, Blyleven only allowed 3 runs twice in his first 10 starts, yet his record was 0-4. In Bert's career, he actually had 15 wins by the score of 1-0.

In 2007, the percentage of people voting Bert into the hall was 47.7% (he needs 75%). There are over 60 pitchers in the HOF and Bert ranks 24th all time in wins, 17th since 1900. Bert has been eligible for the hall of fame since 1996 and he will lose eligibility in 2012.

Like most Twins fans, I am in support of Bert getting a bid into the HOF.

MyFantasyAdvisor OUT, CHEspn IN (Jan. 11, 2009)

After nearly two months without contributing, I have decided to get back into things with CHEspn and leave MyFantasyAdvisor behind. I appreciate everyone who supported MFA and who believed in the vision of the "company". Really though, GoDaddy was the reason I wasn't able to do what I wanted with the site.

I had so many problems with GoDaddy that it made me NOT want to write. Whether there was issues with the annoying way it took to publish an article, the restrictions on the layout or the customer service department that was as frustrating as ever -- I couldn't continue PAYING for something that I was completely unsatisfied with.

The final straw that broke the camel's back was when my credit card got charged $2.99 over 70 different times in one day. Since that point I have been fighting to figure out a better way to display my blog and a way to make GoDaddy and MFA work. I spent hours on the phone and spent hours fiddling with my computer and with their website. But after continuing to run into issues with GoDaddy and thinking about the future of my blog, I have decided to move over here to BLOGSPOT.

I will no longer be restricted to writing about Fantasy Sports, instead will give my advice, rankings, predictions and opinion on any sports related topic. Granted, I will still focus a lot of my blog on Fantasy sports, it will no longer be the driving force of my writing.

As you can see, this blog allows me to have all of my articles conveniently arranged and organized on the right hand side. I am also able to call up my YouTube videos and have them displayed. You can subscribe to my blog so that every time I publish a blog you will get an e-mail. Another good thing about Blogspot is that anyone with a "gmail" e-mail can comment and give feedback. This will allow discussions to occur between everyone, not just specified users of a certain website (PROTRADE).

I will do my best to keep this blog updated with relevant information to keep even the most relaxed sports fan in the know.

I have titled the blog CHEspn and I plan to bring you a combination of CHE and the worldwide leader in sports ESPN. Thank you for your support and I look forward to your feedback. Let me know if you have any suggestions or would like to see me blog about a specific topic.

Again, thank you!

Chad