My 2,000th post...

Hard to believe.

Really hard to believe, and I kind of had to stop myself when I saw the number up there, because I already have the subject matter for Post #2,001.

I've said this repeatedly, mostly to my anonymous friend who has helped me with significant amounts of material, as well as the occasional kick in the ass, but, when I started this blog on October 7, 2010, I never believed the kinds of things we would find:

• Penn State and Jerry Sandusky
• Baylor and the entire culture around the revenue-generating sports there
• The rise of Adam Silver and the fall of racist pig Donald Sterling (and the need for many more owners and officials to be ousted since!)
• The absolute explosion of awareness of head injuries and CTE in the lie which is the sport of football (one more example of which will be Post #2,001).
• The explosion of corruption in computer video-game "E-sports".
• The complete disregarding of any degree of intelligence by a propaganda organization masquerading as a sports league, with about the credibility of the WWE, if that.  I'm looking right at you, Mr. Goodell!
• The complete disintegration of a world sports sanctioning body, supposing to be administering the world's most popular sport, into a morass of kickbacks, vote-buying, and match-fixing.
• A country, culture, and society in the United States that has taken the concept of "if you are important (in sports as in other regards), you can grab her in the pussy" and made an orange Oompa-Loompa with a bad combover and a worse Stone Cold Stunner sell it's President!

And I could go on and on and on...

But it's hard for me to believe we are actually at Post #2,000.  I'd like to thank the readers, few as they are, for taking the time to read my little catharsis.  I will not lie:  There are sports entities in this country that need to be burnt to the fucking ground (the first two mentioned universities are at or near the top of that list!).

I'd like to thank my anonymous friend (who is the one who has requested the anonymity, and is simply a researcher, no inside ties) for a lot of the material, suggestions, and the occasional correction.

I wish I could say I could thank the sports leagues for the material, but I don't.  I used to fucking enjoy sports.  Now I can't.  Sunday was a perfect example of why.  I literally was almost dragging my jaw on the ground at that restaurant, in utter disbelief they'd actually pull it off and insult the intelligence of anyone who has two brain cells left and still watches football...

As I said around the time of the election, I believe my time here is shorter now than ever, and I won't be around much longer.  I know my name is squarely on Trump's "lists" through his connections with his "Celebrity Apprentice" shows.  (And if you research several of my 2,000 posts, you will know through whom and what.)  I've already said the only reason that I did not make one of the 12,000 Tweets the Secret Service is investigating on threatening Trump's life is that I am smart enough to know the cure (Mike Pence) is worse than the disease!  Trump has a great insurance policy.

But as long as I'm here, God willing, I'll try to use my next few hundred or whatever posts to continue to ram it in the face of a corrupt sports culture worldwide.

Join me.

Paging Mr. Adam Silver: May be time to get rid of DeMarcus Cousins

I'm probably going to have to do some research on this.

The Sacramento Kings' DeMarcus Cousins has been suspended one game for receiving SIXTEEN technical fouls over the course of the current season.  He was tossed for an altercation and an argument with the referees against Chicago.  Should've been ejected for just the altercation, where he shoved one of the Bulls' assistants.

He was also fined $25,000 for flipping off somebody and making a vulgar comment (heading to the locker room:  "FUCK GOLDEN STATE!!!") after the game before against Golden State.

Vlade Divac, the GM of the Kings, has already said he won't trade Cousins. Cousins was seen as a trade possibility.  Scottie Pippen, as an analyst, believes Divac will trade him.  (For what value?  Cousins MIGHT play 15 games the rest of the year!)

The NBA suspends players one game for receiving their sixteenth technical foul over the season -- and another game for every pair of technicals thereafter.

Cousins has reached the limit in just 52 games.  There were two more T's he received that were rescinded -- he has been called for 18 such fouls in 52 games.  Only two other NBA players are in double-figures in this regard (Russell Westbrook and DeAndre Jordan).

• Cousins was suspended last year, receiving 17 technical fouls.  (Draymond Green, counting the playoffs, was the league leader with 21.)  
• Cousins was second in the league two years ago with 15.
• Fourth in the league (and suspended) with 16 in 2013-14.
• Led the league and was suspended in 2012-13 with 17.
• Sixth in the league with 13 in 2011-12.
• Eighth in the league in his rookie year of  2010-11 with 15, a year in which Dwight Howard had 25 (which is the NBA record after the league went to the "16 T's = suspension" rule).

So, by my count, that's 110 technicals in seven years in the league, an average of nearly the suspension limit of 16 a year.

(Statistics courtesy of teamrankings.com .)

This now represents the fourth year Cousins has been suspended by the NBA for reaching 16 technical fouls.

He's nowhere close to either the career or season record, though.

That goes to Rasheed Wallace, who is believed to have created this rule, after back-to-back years in which he holds the top two places in the T record book for a season, FORTY-ONE in 2000-2001 (ejected four times), and THIRTY-EIGHT the year previous (ejected six).  He was so bad, the league actually instituted what became known as the "Rasheed Wallace Rule".  You mouth off to the refs, you're T'd up automatically.

Ironically, he was banned seven games in 2003 for threatening the life of Tim Donaghy on a loading dock.

Wallace still led the league the last five years of his career.

Wallace was T'd up 317 times in his NBA career.

And another case of CTE you will ignore as you jack off to the LI(E) of Tom Brady...

Frank Wycheck, the former Titans tight-end, told ESPN today (and Deadspin caught onto it) that he, too, now believes he has CTE...

He has all the telltale signs, and will donate his brain for CTE study upon his death.  You can read the details at the Deadspin link above.

NFL's top offseason priorities?? Well, here's a Super Fraud slant on Kevin Seifert...

With Donald Trump parading (metaphorically) through the streets of Boston today, Kevin Seifert decided to kick off the offseason coverage by giving ten of what he believes to be the NFL's top priorities.

So I'm going to Super Fraud-slant them:

#1:  Address the ratings decline.

The NFL's ratings fell about 8% over the course of the season.  Almost all of this decline was pre-Trump election coverage.  Much of the change from the -14% pre-election, though, to -1% post-election, was attributed to the Cowboys.

Sports Media Watch reports today that Super Bowl LI(E) was the lowest-rated Super Bowl in seven years, at a 45.3. The last time this happened was also the last time Atlanta was in the game (1999), which the rating was the lowest that decade.

As such, my solution (as it would be for a number of these) is:  Contract useless teams.

Seriously.  No one -- and I do mean NO ONE -- wants to continue to see Cleveland and Jacksonville barf up the league.  They are not the only two teams I would contract, given power to do so.  That said, however, I think a large part of why a lot of people aren't watching (along with the Never-Ending Reality Show, awareness of the concussion/CTE issue, etc.) is that the league has done a very poor job of making more than, MAYBE, two or three teams actually relevant.

#2:  Improve pace of game.

There are a number of solutions I would go well out of the box with on this one. 

One of them is actually to stop allowing the referees to tamper the pace of the game on their own.  There are a number of incidents in which teams watched the clock run out on them while the officials would not let them snap the ball.

Another is to simply get rid of the kickoff.  I'll have a solution on that one later.

And third may be a complete rework of the game to begin with.  Reduce the length of the quarters, but stop the clock more often, so that more of the actual running time is actual gameplay.

#3:  Kickoff rule.

Here's my solution to the kickoff situation:  Get rid of kickoffs entirely.

On any score outside a safety, the scoring team has two options:  Give the ball to the other team at their own 25, or take the ball at your own 25, fourth and 20-25.  (One play to get 20-25 yards -- make it difficult enough and obvious enough, like most onside kicks in the first place.)

This might also get rid of the score-commercial-kickoff-commercial situation as well.

#4:  "My Cause, My Cleats", and associated uniform violation fines.

Solution:  Any cleats which actually promote an actual cause or are an actual legitimate tribute are legal.  No fine. 

If you want to honor Craig Sager or bring mental health awareness or something to that effect, you're good.  I understand why there are efforts to have the people have uniform cleats to sell in stores and the like to hardcore idiots, but the fact is that LEGITIMATE efforts to honor or promote causes should never be fined.

Now, if you are trying to pimp the latest rap star of the day, fine away.  Especially if the league grows a brain, any abuse of the process should be fined.

#5:  Chip technology on scores and ball placement.

It's conceded this one probably doesn't work, because you'd still need the eyeball test on when to check for the chip placement.

#6:  Thursday Night Football

My solution:  Get rid of it.  Move the opener to the Saturday night before, if you must.

All Thursday Night Football was designed to do was to extend the National Religion another evening (Thursday night:  Pro.  Friday night:  High School.  Saturday:  College.  Sunday and Monday Night:  Pro.) to basically make football a five out of seven day affair.

Again, and this dovetails into the "useless teams" argument:  Look at some of the games put on the Thursday schedule to give every team a prime-time game:  Jags-Titans, Ravens-Browns...  I mean, they did a better job of stopping complete stinkers, unlike previous years. 

The turnaround is insane, and for what real benefit?  Get rid of TNF.  The only Thursday which MIGHT work is Thanksgiving, and that's tradition.  You might do well to give the Cowboys, Lions, and the two teams they are playing their byes the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

#7:  Celebration Penalties and Unsportsmanlike Conduct

This was the largest Point of Emphasis this year in the NFL.  No uncertain terms, it didn't work.

I'm really of two conflicted minds here, and hence my solution is an either-or:  Either you go ahead and give the fans what they want and let the players have a personality, or you go all the way and anything which is not handing the ball to the ref is 15 and a toss.

First off, it's apparent that there is a very real possibility that Unsportsmanlike Conduct must become an ejection foul on ONE such penalty, not two.  There is a conduct problem on-the-field in the NFL -- in fact, in all of football.  It will have to be further addressed.

On the other hand, there is the real question:  Why are we flagging the celebrations?  If it is a function of what the league has said (with emphasis on "example for the children"), has the NFL forgotten that it is the only level of 100-yard football that even allows the spike after a touchdown, much less anything else?

If "example for the children" is a reason, the league will have to consider outlawing all post-touchdown (and post-sack) demonstrations, including AND ESPECIALLY the Lambeau Leap, etc.  The NFL is the only level which allows it, no level of "the children" allows it.  So, in another example of the league's hypocrisy, if part of this is "FOR THE CHILDREN!!!", then why is any demonstration allowed?

I have a feeling we will see something this off-season on that from Goodell.

#8:  California.

The entire situation in the state of California, with respect to the NFL, is going to have to be addressed.  (And this doesn't even take into account CalExit.)

The article notes that you already have two teams that are not wanted by their localities.  San Diego has become the first city I know of to completely disown it's NFL team.  And it's so bad that the Los Angeles Chargers will play in a stadium which seats only 30,000 people.  They will actually play the next two seasons in Los Angeles' SOCCER STADIUM in Carson.  And the Raiders?  That Las Vegas situation has gone quite south in the last 30 days.  And that whole situation in the Coliseum is not going to work.

The Rams are an utter joke.  What you saw in the Los Angeles Rams in Season One was one of the biggest quit jobs in league history.

The 49ers are even worse of a joke, and the league should've stepped in on the basis of player misconduct and the complete mismanagement of the team since their last Super Bowl appearance.

Solution??  At least one of these four teams is going to have to go -- probably two.  And bugger if I can say which one or two!  Cases could be made for the removal of any of the four franchises.  You'd obviously want to keep at least one LA team (or have a team in LA), but the fact is that none of these franchises (not even the Raiders, who had more wins than the rest of the state COMBINED (12, with SD 5, Rams 4, SF 2)) are healthy enough to be considered viable at this point.

#9:  A true developmental league.

The NFL wants a third-party to actually make the infrastructure and proof-of-concept (as Seifert phrases it) for a developmental league.

This would make sense if we actually dialed back college football in this country.  Until then, spare me.  The fact is that it would actually serve the league better to admit that college football IS the developmental league and be done with it.  Not even with the NFL name attached will most people accept "lesser football" (NFL Europe), much less the XFL failure.

Solution:  A fuller partnership with college football and spare me any developmental league talk.  As Michael Vick found out, and it precipitated his retirement, if you're not getting the call, there's some reason or another (rightly or wrongly) you aren't.

#10:  Officiating technology.

The CFL actually did something this year, a centralized video official who could stop the game at any time and correct an egregious error.

Implement it if you must, but it's just another person to be in on an officiating screwjob if one takes place.  Mike Pereira has already stated that he believes referees are getting advice from upstairs to begin with!

You note one thing that isn't on the list:

#11:  The continuing explosion of head injuries.

I am reminded of a collision Deadspin caught in the Packer-Bear game, where the running back for Chicago lowered his head and the collision was so forceful that the logo got knocked off his helmet!

No uncertain terms:  The game cannot be made safer.  It can't.  There is no solution for this but to create a flag-football situation (which, if marketed properly, would probably address a number of these other issues, come to think of it!!!)

Super Farce LI(E): Additional extentions of remarks...

• My anonymous bullshit detector was resting off after drinking a bit than was planned Sunday night.  My friend got up about 6:30-ish or whatever, with about nine minutes to go in the game, with the Falcons up 28-12.  My friend knew immediately (shadowing that day I had in Cam Newton's national title year when Alabama laid down for Auburn) that the game would go to overtime.  My friend refuses to watch the NFL due to the head injuries, etc. and so forth, and hasn't for nine years.  
• And, wouldn't you know it?  League MVP Donald Trump (Matt Ryan was just a placeholder this year -- as I think we finally have found the one thing -- with the ratings and all -- bigger than the NFL!) congratulating his good friends the GOAT player and the GOAT coach after the game.
• I don't know what makes me more flummoxed about all this -- that the NFL actually went through with this, or the simple fact that, in front of an audience exceeding 100 million in the United States, they carried out one of the largest insults to the intelligence of any person who has ever watched a football game and is aware of the game's rules and how the game is meant to be played.  If this game were any degree of believed-legitimate, the coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterback of the Falcons would all be looking either for prison jumpsuits or new jobs this morning.  Any person (outside of the fools who are Patriot fans in the first place) who actually believes last night's game was not a scripted farce is, bluntly, probably beyond reach.
• We can debate (and there has already been some, in the light of the media's Tom Brady Victory Lap) about whether Tom Brady has been placed beside Michael Jordan in the American Sports Parthenon.  However, there is one thing that I have noticed:  Michael Jordan was the Corporate Champion.  Tom Brady is the Political Champion -- taking Jordan's corporate rigging/scripting agendas and parlaying them into the political arena, and he has for the last 15 years.  Much of what I believed played into the election of President Oompa-Loompa is that it no longer matters what you do, pending your political position in society.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the football manifestation of such:  Tom Brady.
• My anonymous friend (who is sitting in the room while I type this) just made a point that made everything make sense:  I had thought, in the lead-up to the Super Bowl, the NFL would just let the Patriots run up the score and win by some ridiculous margin for Brady's #5.  Wait a second, says my friend...  If they're going to put Brady over "Joe Cool" Joe Montana, why wouldn't it be with a comeback never seen (and not close to being ever seen -- the previous largest Super Bowl comeback was a mere ten points!!)?
• EDIT TO ADD 12:45 PM 2/6:  And, in what has to be one of the least surprising articles I've seen on the Univision-owned sites, new African-American affairs site "The Root" has this article today:  "The Trap House vs. the White House:  Why Black America Needed the Falcons to Win".  And if you needed any more example of why the Falcons DIDN'T win and were ordered to take a dive...

Super Farce LI(E): They. DIDN'T!!!!

First off, before I do anything, thank you to Romano's Pizzeria of my hometown (they have several locations in nearby cities) for being a gracious host.  Shade on the pricy side, but there you go.

Before I get to the obvious, some other thoughts that would've centered this post had the NFL not pulled the most obvious shenanigans in history!!!

• Shocked at the very conciliatory and unifying tone the NFL and FOX Television took to the broadcast.  From the pre-game "tradition" to Johnny Cash's "Old, Ragged Flag" to the salute to the Hall of Famers from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (Lester Hayes is not well, people...) to multiple commercials preaching tolerance and acceptance in this day and age, even FOX, I think, is getting the picture that President Oompa-Loompa is taking it a bit too goddamned far.
• Lady Gaga is fucking hot.  And very talented.  That is all.
• (Except I damn well hope she didn't land on her microphone in the padded area she jumped into at the end of the show.)
• Commercials were largely nothing to write home about this year.  Several quite funny ones, but nothing of that transcendent Super Bowl level.
• George H.W. Bush is not well.  No, I didn't agree with all, or even remotely most, of his policies.  He is not long for this Earth, but at least has attempted to carry the legacy of being a former President very well.
• Luke Bryan appeared off on several of his notes on the National Anthem.
• Interesting they included several Black singers from "Hamilton" in the presentation, singing "America the Beautiful".

And, as the game started, it really looked like they were going with the New Blood and that the Patriots were going to be doghoused out.

• Early bad no-call benefiting New England on a Late Hit.
• Another no-call after the first touchdown benefiting Atlanta on pass interference.
• Most of the refereeing was on point in this.  There were several close calls on the sidelines and on other regards of catches and I didn't see a one where the call was egregiously bad except maybe those two..
• ... and the fact that three consecutive New England first downs on a first half drive were awarded by defensive holding calls (though all three were correct! -- the only question is how often that happens on every such play!!)
• And, with about 2:30 to go in the third quarter, New England is down 28-3, though driving.

And there's where the script kicked in.  I really felt they would have Brady roll it up like a pinball machine to get put next to Michael Jordan on the American sports parthenon.

Nope, they went the other route:

• Touchdown with about 2 minutes to in the third quarter -- Gostkowski bonks the extra point, and it's 28-9 Atlanta.
• Atlanta, after the onside kick and a good pass, gets 2nd and 1 at the NE 32.  Three plays later, (holding penalty, incompletion, sack), its 4th and 19 at the Atlanta 49.  That's one field goal off the boards.  That one makes it 31-9 to start the 4th quarter, and they're pretty much home.
• New England, still looking quite a bit disorganized, somehow stumbles their way into a six-minute, 12-play drive which culminates with a Gostkowski field goal for 28-12.
• First two plays out are runs.  Third and 2 at the Atlanta 35, they...  PASS????? 
• Or at least they try to.  Matt Ryan fumbles (correctly called), and the Patriots get the ball at the Atlanta 25.  Five plays later, Brady to Amendola, plus the two, for 28-20 with six minutes to go.
• So Atlanta passes AGAIN.  And, yes, they get two long passes off to get down to the New England 22 with about four minutes to go and New England has all their timeouts.  At this point, three runs into the line get a 35ish yard field goal attempt to go up 11 with between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 minutes to go, depending on how many of the three timeouts Belicheat wants to save.
• So what happens?  By the end of the sequence, Atlanta is FOURTH AND THIRTY-FIVE at New England's 47!!  Run for -1 should've been OK.  Then a sack, a holding call, and an incompletion.  That's two intentionally botched field goal opportunities.

The ball is now on the New England 9 with about 3 minutes to go and 2 timeouts for Brady.

• Incompletion.
• Incompletion.
• 3rd down pass for 16.
• Incompletion with pass interference on Atlanta not called.
• Pass for 11, out of bounds on the run.
• Pass for 18 with a Tyree-level catch -- confirmed on replay, and the correct call.  Atlanta basically had to challenge it though.
• Pass for 25.
• Two-minute warning.
• Pass for 13.
• Pass for 9
• White with the 1 yard touchdown.
• Brady gets the 2 and we're drawn with 55 seconds left.

So we now already have two pieces of Super Bowl history:  Biggest comeback used to be 10, this one was 25.  And we got the first Super Bowl overtime.  Pats win the toss and take the ball.

• Pass for 7.
• Pass for 12.
• Pass for 19.
• Pass for -3, as Atlanta did snuff out that swing pass.
• Pass for 15.
• Pass for 10.
• Interference on Atlanta in the end zone -- good call.
• Incomplete.
• And White for the game-winner, and Brady is now alongside Michael Jordan as on the American sports Parthenon as the GOATs (and Foolish and Wretched Rigged One-Dimensional Ballhogs).

Sorry to all the Falcon fans and Cheatriot-haters to have to read this:

The Atlanta Falcons participated in throwing Super Bowl LI at the orders of the National Football League to install Tom Brady as next to Jordan in American sports. 

What you saw tonight would be IMPOSSIBLE without the cooperation on every conceivable level on the part of the Falcons.  And, as long as it's on the league's direction, it's completely above-table and legal.

At least two different easy opportunities to put the game out of reach with field goals, intentionally botched to facilitate the 25-point comeback.  Several different passes where passing made no abject sense, especially since there was success on the ground against the Patriot defense!

But that was never the idea.  Atlanta was not supposed to win this Super Bowl.  Tom Brady was.  Bill Belicheat was.

Oh, and the overtime touchdown?  New England covered the -3 and the game went over!

You got suckered and the only thing I have to say on it is that I am stunned they actually went through with it in this manner!!!

Official Super Bowl LI(E) Prediction. You're all suckers.

Donald Trump is being interviewed by Bill O'Reilly for the Super Bowl pre-game show.

If you need to know anything else of the affairs of today, there it is.

You'll probably see him again just before the ceremonies pre-kickoff on FOX, when FOX does their tradition of post-9/11 Super Bowls.  I forget if it's the Pledge of Allegiance or the Gettysburg Address, but FOX has a patriotic expression of national pride just before turning the broadcast over to the pre-game ceremonies.  (To be fair, it had Obama when he was President.)

(And a reminder from my anonymous friend and Deadspin that the Patriots and Falcons were the top two teams exposed in a 2012-2015 report regarding the Federal government paying for patriotic events (color guards, reunions, etc. and so forth and so on) at NFL contests.  Falcons #1, Pats #2.)

But I felt this two weeks ago when the match-up was made and the point spread first set at New England -3.

This is a sucker's bet of MASSIVE proportions, in my opinion, and I may look stupid about 7:30 or so Pacific tonight.

I'll begin by freely admitting that there are several angles on the Falcons.

• As my friend points out, they were the top-receiving team of government funds for "paid patriotism".
• I fully concede that the league would take great joy in having it's first 2017-18 broadcast from a sparkling new billion-dollar-plus stadium.
• If the Falcons win this one, they are young enough to become the new "young guns" of the NFL and win several more.  There are many who view this as the NFL's "new blood" angle, and I can't see them wrong in this regard.  The defense is young, the offense is #1 in the league.
• There is, of course, the babyface angle.
• And the fact that the Patriots might still be (by some estimates) in the league doghouse.

So I get it.  There are a number of possible angles the league might use to push these Falcons -- and, if they are, they might be the pushed team in the NFC for quite some time to come.  This year, they might well have been the third-best team in the NFC (behind the Giants and Cowboys), but the facts are they were the most palatable choice for the league, so there's no surprise they'd be here once the league was forced to reveal that Ezekiel Elliott WAS being investigated.

The problem, for me, is that this entire season has become revolved around our new President.  Fascination with him destroyed the ratings for the league pre-election, and the fact he was made President in one of the largest-scale (perceived) "upsets" in history basically shook up every conceivable narrative in this country.

So much so that there are even people who are allies of the Orange Oompa-Loompa who would wish he'd get out of the way so people could sleep at night.

The thing is, it cannot be underestimated that this entire Patriots run (now in it's 16th NFL season with the Patriots going to seven Super Bowls in the timeframe) is almost-certainly the first US government-engineered sports dynasty.  From the first "win" fifteen Super Bowls ago, to the State of the Union address, to the numerous breaches of at least corporate law (if not criminal) Belicheat and the Patriots have gotten away with against various teams over the last decade and a half...

It also cannot be underestimated that Brady, Belichick, and Kraft are three rich White men (emphasis on WHITE!!!) who openly support Gropenfuhrer II -- President GrabHerInThePussy.  It's been kind of tap-danced around and all, probably as part of what my friend would call the Kabuki Theater surrounding all of this, but would it not be almost appropo for Trump to call the Patriots' locker room (or even on the field) after the game and congratulate his friends.

And then there's the angle on the league's own propaganda ends -- if Brady wins another, it's #5.  No player in the most blessed of positions (please note my snark!) has ever won 5 of these.  I've heard Dana White already demand a blowout because he already calls the Pats (his team) the GOAT and Tom Brady the GOAT. Tom Brady, ONCE he wins #5 -- today or the day he retires! -- will be placed alongside the other Foolish and Wretched Ballhog in the American Sports Parthenon.

As much as the Northeast did vote against Trump, it is still fact that the Northeast is still largely White -- in fact, Boston was one of the last sports cities to integrate (which see the stories surrounding Bill Russell!).  Downtown Atlanta is so Black, the Braves ran from there and are building their new stadium in suburban Cobb Country to try to bleach their fanbase.

I know a lot of people are talking this is going to be an up-and-down the field video-game score affair.

I think it will be -- one way, for the Patriots.

With the obvious caveat that, if the ratings tank too much, they'll have to orchestrate it closer, my pick is Patriots 44 - Atlanta 10, so we must all bow head and bend knee to Belicheat and Brady.

And pardon me while I barf up my lunch.