World class athletes of all sports and disciplines are trying to break their way into MMA.  Some want to see if they can handle the conditioning and the challenge of the fight.  There are those trying to break into the sport to continue their quest as world class athletes and fighting for the championship belt.  No matter what the motivation, MMA truly is becoming known as the sport where the real athletes live and work.

Herschel Walker and Jason Frank both are known names who are helping to bring light to the sport and challenge themselves in a whole new way.  This past season of The Ultimate Fighter had a few former professional football players who revealed this sport is quite tough.  They showed that to make it in a match of three five-minute rounds conditioning had to be top-notch.

Now, bring in Herschel Walker, the Heisman Trophy holder, who recently debuted in MMA.  This 47 year old was heralded for his level of conditioning in his recent fight.  Although he is nowhere near ready for elite fighters, his fight was impressive.  Walker walked away with a victory and is currently trumpeting a 1-0 record.  Many of the MMA in-crowd stated this will probably be his only fight, but it was a good one and he helped shine more light onto this great sport.

The next newcomer is Jason D. Frank.  He has been in the shadows of the MMA world for quite awhile now.  However, he had his first fight on January 30th and won by submission in the Lonestar Beatdown.  Jason is best known for his time on the kid’s television show, The Power Rangers.  This martial arts master and fighter who is belted in numerous arts is now 1-0 as an MMA fighter.  He enjoyed a first round victory using an omaplata.

He let me in on his training video, and there was no doubt in my mind that he would run through whoever climbed in the ring against him.  He has been preparing to fight MMA for a long time, and it showed in his training and in his recent victory.

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The Pro Bowl came and went this week with barely a ripple in the world of the NFL. Here are the highlights and lowlights as I saw them.

Highlights:
DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles – This kid is all of 21 years old and has a promising career ahead of him. His enthusiasm on and off the field was electrifying. From the opening introductions to his two spectacular TD catches to his unspectacular pass attempt to his impassioned sideline defense of his QB when a McNabb interception was nullified by a defensive penalty, he was all over the place.

Brian Dawkins’ interception of former teammate Donovan McNabb followed by a series of increasingly ill-advised laterals as Dawkins and his AFC teammates had some fun on the field. It was nice to see professional athletes just enjoying the game, if even for a moment.

The lack of penalties – Other than the aforementioned defensive penalty that negated a McNabb interception and the offensive penalty on the same play that negated the negation, there were no penalties to speak of.

Lowlights:
It would be too easy just to write ‘everything else’, although that summarizes things fairly well. But here are a few aspects of the Pro Bowl especially deserving of mention.

The rules – Sure, everybody loves to see some offense, but the defensive players earned a place in the Pro Bowl, too. Hamstringing the defense with a bunch of restrictions isn’t the best way to showcase the crème de la crème of the NFL.

The effort – They may as well change the name to the “Play Not to Get Hurt Bowl”. The defenses of both conferences, partly because the rule changes already discussed, were mostly going through the motions out there while their offensive counterparts ran amok.

The timing – The week before the Super Bowl? The game always has been irrelevant. Trying to tie it in to the Super Bowl hype just fell flat. I’d rather see some kind of non-contact skills contest in the bye week.

The participation – Because of the timing, the top players from the top teams in the NFL could not play. Without Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Drew Brees and the rest of the 1st teamers, the Pro Bowl seemed more like a consolation prize for the also rans.

On the bright side, we’re that much closer to the game that counts next Sunday.

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This week the NFL offered up the best of the best, the creme de la creme, the elite teams that dominated their respective divisions all season long… and also the New York Jets.

To be fair, the Jets made a show of it. Early on, it looked like they were going to take it to the Indianapolis Colts.  The Jets defense was stingy in the first half, limiting the Colts to a puny field goal for the first 28 minutes on Sunday.  Unfortunately for the Jets, there are 30 minutes in a half.

At half-time, the naysayers were having a ball naysaying Jim Caldwell, Peyton Manning, and the rest of the Colts organization for resting their players, for giving up the chance for a perfect season, for choking under pressure, and for causing global warming.

The last 32 minutes were more along the lines of what we all expected to see.  Manning and company dismantled the Jets defense to the tune of 27 unanswered points while the Indianapolis defense completely shut down rookie Mark Sanchez and the Jets offense.

The second game was more evenly matched.  Early on, it looked like it was going to be a case of two offensive juggernauts pushing the opposing defenses around for sixty minutes.  But after a couple of early touchdowns for each team, the defenses stiffened up.

Although four touchdowns a piece in regulation is nothing to sneeze at, this wasn’t the high flying, aerial extravaganza that we expected.  Somewhere in late in the first half, the entire Vikings team got the old fumblerewski going on and just couldn’t stop.  Six fumbles (they only lost three of them) and three interceptions is tough to overcome.

But still the Vikings had the chance to win in regulation, and if not for a bone headed 12 men in the huddle penalty with nineteen clicks left on the clock, they probably would have kicked a long field goal and packed their bags for Miami.  Instead, Favre threw an ill-advised interception, and the Vikings offense never get back on the field.

A final footnote:  I didn’t look it up, but I’m pretty sure that this week marks the first time in NFL history that two guys named Pierre scored touchdowns in the Conference Championships.  That would be Pierre Thomas and Pierre Garcon (I don’t know how to make that funny French squiggly ’c’ thing on my keyboard) who scored for the Saints and Colts respectively.

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By 4 o’clock on Sunday, I was beginning to wonder why we even bother with the Wild Card round.

The Divisional Round Weekend of the NFL playoffs started with the Arizona Cardinals putting up an anemic effort against the well-rested New Orleans Saints.  Whatever problems were plaguing the Saints as the season wore down were long gone by the start of Saturday’s contest.  One play  into the game, the Cardinals looked like a real threat.   The rest of the afternoon, they looked more like a punching bag.

Saturday night was even worse.  Baltimore held tough for a quarter, but then things got out of hand fast.  The Baltimore Ravens defense is certainly playoff worthy, but the offense didn’t stay on the field long enough for them to catch their breath.  As the Ravens defense wore down, the Indianapolis Colts offense just got stronger.  Indy’s defense was no slouch either, holding the Ravens to just three points.

Half way into the season, it looked like the Saints and Colts were bound for the Super Bowl and anything that would happen in between was just a formality.  Later in the season, we all thought things were changing, chinks were appearing in the armor.  But after a bye-week rest, both teams look like the world beaters we knew they could be back in September.

Sunday afternoon’s match-up of the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys was a laugher.  Tony Romo, who finally shed his “can’t win in December” and “can’t win a playoff game” tags, was absolutely awful.  Really, really bad.  Brett Favre, on the other hand, looked as good as he ever has.  Somebody needs to tell that guy that he’s forty years old and that his body cannot do the things that he thinks it can.  It just isn’t natural.

So back to 4 o’clock on Sunday – I really wasn’t expecting much from the J-E-T-S Jets.  After what you’d politely call a defensive struggle in the first half, I thought my suspicions were confirmed by the intermission.  Whatever coach Rex Ryan said or did at half time should be bottled and sold in finer department stores everywhere.  The Jets came out in the second half and took it to the #2 seed San Diego Chargers.  By the time the final whistle blew, the Jets squeaked out with a 17-14 come from behind win that made me a believer.  Not a believer that they can beat Indy next week, mind you.  But a believer that they’ll be a team to watch next year.

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Over on Idea Offer, there was an idea request that asked the question, “Who is the greatest sports coach of all time ?“ With such a broad arena to choose from, you can expect a wide array of answers.  Professional, amateur, winter, summer, team, individual — the options are almost limitless.

The winning idea was submitted by Penelope:

No one can equal the record and dignity of John Wooden. The Wizard of Westwood has to be the greatest.

It is hard to argue with that answer.  Ten NCAA basketball championships, including seven in a row surely will make you the greatest of all time.

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At the risk of getting fired because my editor is a Patriots fan, the Patriot’s dynasty is done.  However, there are still plenty of great teams out there who can get the job done.  However, only two can make it to the Super Bowl.

First off, Baltimore crushed the Patriot’s with a 33-14 victory on Sunday.  It really should have been 33-7, but the Ravens head coach declined to challenge a botched punt return that was recovered by New England, kind of.  However, the Ravens proved that if you are going to step onto the field against them, you better be ready to play.  They have a serious shot at the Super Bowl, as long as Flacco can start completing some passes.

With the Jets beating Cincy they advance as the Cinderella story of the AFC.  Honestly, I was not surprised to see the Bengals lose.  When they are on they are good, but they are not a championship caliber team by any means.  The Jets will not beat the Chargers.  The AFC Championship game will be the Chargers and the Colts.  The Colts will advance to the Super Bowl and win.

The Ravens have a great chance to upset the Colts because they play with so much heart.  However, I cannot see Peyton Manning pulling a Tom Brady and giving the ball away like Paris to the Germans.  I am sticking to my guns, the Colts will be in the big dance.

The NFC truly has me baffled.  I can see numerous scenarios playing out for the one true team.  First the Saints. Drew knows how to motivate these boys to become a hurricane of scoring ability.  However, Arizona proved they can rack up the points, too.  I am pulling for the Saints because they are a great organization.  I wish I had a better reason, but that’s it.  The winner of this game will advance to the Super Bowl.  Even though I am a Favre fan, he will beat Tony Romo but will not beat the Saints.

There you have it, my Super Bowl picks are the Colts beating the Saints.

Editor’s Note: If you want to share your opinion about which teams you’d like to see in the Super Bowl, visit 3 Greatest and cast your vote!

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There’s a sweet, sweet fragrance in the air that can only mean one thing: NFL Playoff time!  I love it so.

The Cowboys beat the Eagles… again.  It wasn’t much closer than it was a week ago.  The Eagles were completely outplayed, out-coached, out-cheerleadered.  The only thing that the birds had over the ‘Boys was a better Wildcat QB.  Did you see Michael Vick’s eighty yard TD bomb?  Despite the down time, despite the dog fighting, despite every reason not to like the guy, he’ll be starting somewhere next year.  But back to the winning team – the Cowboys, who were nothing more than mediocre through the first two-thirds of the season, are HOT in the playoffs.  Hot enough for the chilly confines of the Minneapolis Metrodome?  We’ll find out next weekend.

The Jets beat the Bengals… again.  This was different, though.  This was in Cincinnati in a game that meant something, meant a big something, to the Bengals.  The Jets 10 point margin of victory doesn’t do justice to how thoroughly they manhandled the team.  Maybe nobody told the J-E-T-S Jets that they’re not even supposed to be in the playoffs, that they slid in the backdoor and aren’t worthy of being there.

The Packers played the Cardinals again… but this time the Cards won.  What a game that was – if you like offense and are indifferent to defense.  Maybe the Pack were feeling a little too confident after the other two rematches went exactly like their respective regular season finales.  Maybe they thought they’d spot Arizona three touchdowns just to make things sporting.  Whatever they were thinking on the Green Bay side of the field, it wasn’t working out early in the game.

Then came the second half.  Green Bay boomed back into the game and tied it with just a couple of minutes left on the clock.  Just enough for a little Kurt Warner magic to write another chapter in his legacy with yet another game winning drive.  Except he didn’t. Neil Rackers, one of the best kickers in the business, shanked a gimme and inexplicably the game was in overtime.

Then, the Wild Card Game With No Defense was won with a defensive touchdown.

Finally, the only non-rematch on the Wild Card docket.  The Belichick-Brady legacy took a little hit with an ugly, first round exit that featured Brady’s worst play since… I don’t know, Pee Wee football maybe.  Baltimore just may have the legs to go the distance.  But like other survivors of Wild Card Weekend, they now have to go on to face the well-rested top seeds.

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Week 17 closed out the NFL regular season in an exciting fashion. The scheduling geniuses at the NFL outdid themselves this year as an unprecedented three out of four Wildcard games will be rematches of the regular season finales. I don’t know how they planned that out a year in advance, but it’s pretty darn cool.

The Eagles needed to beat the Cowboys in Dallas in order to secure the number two seed and a first round bye. They didn’t. In fact, they got spanked all over Cowboys Stadium in an embarrassing 24-0 rout that dropped them all the way to the number six seed. Now the Eagles need to beat the Cowboys in Dallas in order to avoid being a one and done in the playoffs. If the game this weekend had been close, I’d say that the matchup favored the Eagles, since it’s got to be really hard to beat one team three times in one season. But since the Eagles laid down for the ‘Boys in a one sided walloping, it looks like Jerry Jones’ bagillion dollar stadium might be the lucky charm the Cowboys needed to get over their proclivity toward late season slumps.

The Packers beat the Cardinals in Arizona and won themselves a chance to go back to the desert to try to do it again next week. The 33-7 shellacking that the Pack put on the Birds probably is not a foreshadowing of the rematch, but it had to put all the momentum behind the Green Bay team.

The Jets put an ugly beating on the Bengals, 37-0. Thanks to the Patriots loss earlier in the day, the Bengals were playing for a chance to move up from number 4 to the number 3 seed. Didn’t happen. Wasn’t even close. Now the same contestants will line up again next week but in a different venue. The Bengals will have the home field advantage, but home field advantage is usually good for 3 to 7 points, not 37 points.

The Redskins wasted no time this week in firing coach Jim Zorn after yet another disappointing season. Yeah, the coach must be the problem. It couldn’t be the ownership.

The Rams won! The Rams won! Not an actual football game, mind you, but they won the right to the first pick of the 2010 draft. Sometimes you’ve got to take your victories where you can get them. And when you’re the Rams, you can’t get them on the football field.

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It has been twenty years since Charles Barkley so infamously and accurately declared, “I am not a role model”.  Now Gilbert Arenas is the latest professional athlete to demonstrate beyond any doubt that he is, in fact, not a role model.  By pulling a gun on a teammate over an alleged gambling debt, Arenas has pushed the envelope of bad behavior far beyond the pale.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this disturbing story is the fact that Arenas feels no compulsion to defend his cavalier gun brandishing but does dispute the fact that it was over a gambling debt.  Maybe he thinks it’s OK to threaten a colleague with a loaded weapon if the matter at hand is something more acceptable than gambling.  These multi-million dollar crybabies are so detached from reality that they lose all perspective.

Now teammate Javaris Crittenton was more than just an innocent bystander in all this.  He, too, showed a weapon in the locker room during the altercation.  Why were two men packing heat in the locker room of a professional basketball team?  And if two of them actually pulled their weapons, how  many more had them stashed away somewhere nearby, just in case?

Basketball has long had the reputation for being he most thuggish of professional sports.  In a category that includes football and hockey players that’s saying a lot but nothing good.  Football players are renowned for spousal abuse and carousing.  Hockey players are so pugnacious that they are often known more for their fighting skills than their actual hockey prowess.  Even baseball, traditionally the good guy of the sports world, has been tarnished by revelations that approximately 90% of their star players are using illegal drugs and the other 10% are lying.

But none of them can touch basketball in terms of pure thuggery.  And as long as blue collar Americans continue to shell out good money after bad to watch these clowns, things won’t get any better.

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The… Bucs… beat… the… Saints.  Sorry, I had trouble forcing my fingers to type that sentence.  I’m a firm believer in the “Any given Sunday” rule.  Simply put, any team in the NFL can beat any other team on any given Sunday.  I believe that; I really do.

But I didn’t believe that the 2-12 Bucs could beat the 14-0 Saints… in New Orleans… by overcoming a 17 point deficit… in a game that had major playoff implications for the Saints… and was meaningless for the Bucs.  That’s why we watch the games.

The word of the week was “Comeback”.  In addition to the Saints, the Eagles and Bears both saw 17 point leads evaporate in the second half.  But unlike the Saints, those teams managed to persevere and reclaim the lead to win their games.

The Colts’ coach Jim Caldwell chose a better shot at the Super Bowl over a shot at a perfect season by pulling his starters in the third quarter with a razor thin, 5 point lead over the Jets.  As mad as Colts fans are, they’d be madder still if Peyton Manning broke his leg in the fourth quarter of a meaningless game and blew the team’s chances of winning it all this year.  Putting it all into perspective, I think he made the right call.

The AFC playoff seeding is just about set.  The Colts and Chargers are 1 and 2.  The Pats and Bengals will be 3 and 4, but not necessarily in that order.  Then there’s a whole host of also rans looking for the Wild Card spots.

The NFC playoff picture became clear as mud following the Week 16 games.  The six teams that will be in the playoffs are settled, but the order could swing significantly next week.  The Saints, thanks to the Viking loss, own the number 1 seed.  Things get interesting with the number two seed.  Four teams potentially could lay claim to that spot and the coveted bye week that comes with it.

The Eagles control their own destiny and can claim the number 2 seed with a win over Dallas next Sunday.  That game is the lynch pin of the NFC playoff seeding.  If the Eagles win, they can thank the Viking’s late season collapse for a first round bye.  If they lose, they drop all the way from the #2 to #5 and have to play the Wild Card round on the road.  That’s a massive swing for one game.

Sixteen weeks down, and the best football yet is still a week away.

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