The Holiday Season in Sports

Hey guys, the Autistic Sports Nerd here. The NFL regular season is down to the last two weeks, the NBA regular season is finally about to begin, and the NHL Winter Classic is just a week and a half away.


NFL

1972 Miami Dolphins, rest easy. There will be no undefeated season for the Green Bay Packers as the Kansas City Chiefs (their first game with a new coach) upset the Packers. The Packers are now 13-1. I bet every other NFL team wished they had that "problem." I think this loss is a blessing in disguise for the Packers since they don't have to worry about the pressure of a potential undefeated season. I think this loss makes the Packers even more dangerous in the long-term.

2008 Detroit Lions, don't rest easy. You are still the only team to go win less in a 16 game season. The Colts avoided that disaster by winning against the Titans for their first win of the season. They are still in the drivers' seat to get the #1 overall pick in this year's draft.

My Giants were blown-out by the Washington Redskins in a game in which the G-Men were heavily favored. This is nothing new for the Giants. In recent years, the Giants have shown that they play much better against great teams than the mediocre teams. It's like the Giants rather play the Patriots, Cowboys, and Packers than the Redskins, Seahawks, and Browns.

Despite getting blown out in Philly, the Jets still control their playoff destiny. It's a huge game between the Giants and Jets on Christmas Eve. It's the Battle of two New York (that play in New Jersey) teams with huge playoff implications. The Giants are will be on the verge of elimination if they lose to the Jets. The Cowboys will win the NFC East if they win vs. Philly plus a Giants' loss to the Jets. If the Eagles beat the Cowboys, Giants lose to the Jets, Giants beat the Cowboys in Week 17 and the Eagles win their last game against the Redskins, then the Eagles will win the NFC East. That's pretty scary. The Eagles have been on a roll lately so it is not impossible.

The Houston Texans are AFC South Champions. This will be the first time the Texans have made the playoffs in the history of their franchise. As a matter of fact, they an end up being the #1 seed in the AFC. It was a valiant effort by Big Ben as he played while injured but it was not enough as the 49ers cruised by the Steelers on Monday Night Football. It looks as if the Steelers will be the #5 seed while the Ravens will win the AFC North.

After all of the Tim Tebow hype we have been forced to sit through on ESPN, the Patriots finally knocked Tebow and the Broncos off. I really thought it was cool the way the Broncos were pulling off all of those comebacks but ESPN ruined it by putting way too much hype and overexposing the story. Plus, all they kept talking about was Tebow this and Tebow that. No credit was given to the Broncos defense for keeping them in the game and no credit was given to their kicker who kicked the 59 and 51 yard field goals in their game against the Bears.

And what the heck was with Skip Bayless last week? On his show, he was standing in front of a huge crowd of Broncos' fans. He is a huge Tebow supporter. It was creepy how he commanded the crowd to cheer and they did, commanded them to boo and they did, do certain chants and they did. That was really creepy.

I am going to say this right now: The Tim Tebow Saga is even worse than the Brett Favre retirement drama. Yes, I said it. This Tebow story is more annoying than the Brett Favre drama. Tebow drama is the new Favre drama.


NHL

I watched the first episode of the HBO Documentary of the Rangers and Flyers playing their season and preparing for the Winter Classic. It was awesome to watch and I highly recommend any fan of hockey to watch it. You get to know players from both teams really well. It makes the buildup for the big event that much more exciting.

Speaking of the Rangers, they are the masters of winning games at the last second. First they score the game-winning goal with less than two seconds left in Calgary and then earlier this week, Brad Richards scores the game-goal with just a tenth of a second left in Phoenix. It's been a crazy year for the Rangers so far.

The Bruins are looking unstoppable. After getting off to a slow start, they went on a winning streak and now they are in second place in the Eastern Conference.

I love the new NHL realignment. There will be four divisions that have not been named yet. The good thing is that every team is going to play each other at least twice (once in each rink) which is a good thing. Teams within their own division play each other either five or six times per season. It's awesome that the NHL is trying to start something different and unique compared to the other major professional sports. They started with the All-Star game rules and now this. That's great for the NHL. The NHL realignment will start next season.

NBA

Basketball season is almost here. The big news is that Chris Paul is now playing in Hollywood. No, not for the Lakers but for the Clippers. The Clippers who have been overshadowed by the Lakers for years, can finally be a relevant team in California. If it wasn't for Stern, Paul would have been a Laker. I understand why the league owns the Hornets but it's still awkward. Isn't this some kind of Conflict of Interest? I'm not sure why Stern denied the Paul trade to the Lakers but at least other teams are having a chance to get good players.

My Predicted Eastern Conference Top 8

1. Heat

2. Bulls

3. Knicks

4. Magic

5. Pacers

6. Celtics

7. Sixers

8. Bucks

My Predicted Western Conference Top 8

1. Thunder

2. Lakers

3. Mavericks

4. Nuggets

5. Clippers

6. Spurs

7. Blazers

8. Grizzlies


I predict that the Chicago Bulls will beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals to win the NBA Championship.


MLB

The Angels not only get Albert Pujols but C.J. Wilson too. Usually I don't think a team will automatically do well just because they get a few big-named free agents (The Marlins this year, for example, because i still think the Marlins will miss the playoffs by a wide margin) but the Angels already have a solid team with a good lineup and starting rotation. These two additions will make the Angels that much better and they should be one of the favorites in the American league.

The Yankees, Phillies, and Red Sox have yet to make big moves in this year's Free Agency period yet the Marlins and Angels are loading up. This is a perfect example of irony.

College football

I can't wait for the BCS Bowl games. Not so much for the Idaho Potato Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Emerald Bowl, and the Bowl Games Just To Make Money Bowl. I do like the Pinstriped Bowl because it's cool to see football games being played at Yankee Stadium. Bottom Line, I only care about the "Major" Bowl games.

WWE

It seems that the WWE is going in a youth movement. C.M Punk retains the WWE Championship, Daniel Bryan cashes in his MITB contract and won the World Heavyweight Championship, and Zack Ryder wins the United States Championship. I love that the WWE is giving the young guys a chance to run with the ball. It's like a changing of the guard and the WWE will benefit from this in the long terms.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Holiday Season!

I'm the Autistic Sports Nerd, have a good night guys!