Just John

Or c) He's a heel and you're supposed to be mad at him for doing what he did.

Minnesota's on a hot streak and is the currently the #7 team in the West. Whether or not they stay there until the end of the season remains to be seen, however. There is a huge quality gap between the 6 and 7 spots this year in the West. There are about 4 average teams vying for those last two spots.

Even throwaway matches in WWE last longer than 2 minutes. Well, maybe not in ECW, but on the other two brands they do. Plus, most WWE gimmicks make sense.

Saints/Patriots has to happen. The feel-good team of a lifetime vs. a former feel-good team who has turned to the dark side and is now an evil dynasty. Even the casual fans could get behind the Saints and make for a killer SB atmosphere. And you know it'd be a good game because the Pats would let 'em hang around. There aren't any bad matchups left, imo, but Saints/Patriots seems the most appealing to me. And I know the anti-mainstream sports coverage fans here would love to hate it.

How is VKM not even nominated? That would get my vote for sure. Two has-beens embarrassing themselves with bitter, unfunny skits and not getting any response from WWE. Of course, looking at the list, it looks like the logic might be "well, they're making fun of WWE, so they're not too bad." And why is the Punjabi prison nominated? There was a lot of intrigue about it, and most people were impressed with concept. The match itself wasn't that good, but if you think it's the worst thing this year, you're nuts.

What's with Laker-mania on national tv this week? Those MLK day games look terrible.

Eh, I like Bill Walton's gimmick of saying ridiculous things, but I couldn't believe it when he actually tried to defend this as a serious point. I think he eventually realized it was stupid to try make this point, though. Jon Barry was ripping him for the rest of the game about it, and he just sat there and took it. "Come on, Bill, have you been touring with Grateful Dead recently?" *Sarcastically* "...that defensive juggernaut in the valley of the sun."

Just out of curiosity, why have you always hated them? They've never done anything... It's like hating the Devil Rays.

I think you have to be a pretty sick person to cheer against the Saints.* Even you if don't like the hurricane angle (which like it or not, is a very newsworthy event and it and its aftermath deserve news coverage), at least you can respect the fact that they're a hardluck team finally achieving some success. The team has a lot of good players with good attitudes. How anyone could hate them is beyond me. *Except for true fans of their opponents.

Who would've thought the Colts would two ugly defensive struggles in a row? Say what you will about McNair not showing up, I think some credit has to go to the Colts D. The Raven receivers were having a hell of a hard time getting open, and an even harder time getting behind the Colts secondary. Indy kept everything in front of them and did a good job containing the run. They were fast to the ball and didn't give up the big play. Yeah, that was an embarrassing showing for Baltimore, but Indy is at least partially responsible for that.

Battier has been a killer addition to the Rockets this year. If there were a "Utility player of the year" award, he'd have to be the front runner right now. He does everything that needs to be done, whether it's defend, hit open shots, make passes, etc. Last night, Battier carried the scoring and is really the only reason they won the game. T-Mac showed why he's such a valubale asset as well. He was having a bad scoring night, but made an impact getting boards and making passes. He always finds ways to help to the team. With Battier and Bonzi being added this season, I think the Rockets are moving in the right direction to be a contender. Though I still wonder why Mike James was traded for Rafer Alston straight up.

Great... I was hoping that 15,000 people loudly chanting for Vince's competition during that Rosie/Donald skit would cause it to be swept under the rug and never heard of again. Now it's going to Wrestlemania? Yuck. And the CM Punk treatment is just typical WWE political bullshit. It shouldn't surprise anyone by now. No one wants him to get over, so they make dumb excuses when he does and come up with even dumber ones to job him out. When has Bob Holly ever gotten a reaction like Punk did at Survivor Series?

I disagree with the first statement about the interchangability of games I kind of agree with you about the use of backing into the playoffs. I think the term has merit though. Say you have teams A and B. If A wins, they make the playoffs. If they lose and B wins, B goes and A is out. I say A backs in to the playoffs if they lose and then B loses, allowing A to make the playoffs in spite of losing. Say Team A finishes 10-6, losing on the last week. My thought process is that if they lose that game at any other point and win on the last week, no one would make a fuss about "backing in." Regular season games could fall in any order, and sometimes it happens that teams need things to happen in the last games of the season. Good call. I was watching a basketball game on ESPN, and over the course of the game, I think the announcers claimed that 3 different players on the same team were the first ones at the gym every day.

They were last year, at least on Raw...

I don't like the phrase "Backed into the playoffs." The fact that all regular season games are interchangeable can create this illusion, but I still don't like it. Take the Chiefs this year for example. A lot of things had to go right in Week 17 to get them in, so people said they backed in. However, if all the things that needed to happen (Broncos loss, Bengals loss, Titans loss) happened on other weeks over the course of the season, no one would notice. Hypothetically, if the Broncos lost an extra game in Week 5, the Bengals in Week 7, and the Titans in Week 10, the Chiefs could've been "win and in" on the last week of the season and no one would've ever thought of them "backing in." The phrase "stumbling into the playoffs" is fine if a team loses a lot of games before the playoffs start. The Giants would be a good example of it being ok to use this expression.

The first guy that came to my mind was Chris Benoit. Never hear about him complaining or refusing to put anyone over. Always looks like he's giving 100% even if his match is completely meaningless. He's been grossly misused for most of his career, but he never phones it in or makes excuses. He just goes out there and does his best entertain the fans, and it has earned him much well-deserved praise. The Rock is another good answer. Never heard about him causing any problems and he always looked like he was giving 100% no matter what he was doing. He also actively campaigned for Jericho's push during a time when Jericho wasn't very popular among the elites. Maybe too early to call, but Cena seems like he has a really good attitude too.

Even though I'm terrible at picks, I'll do these anyway. Ravens 31, Colts 17: The Chiefs slowed down the Colts on offense, so unless Peyton really steps it up, it's going to get a lot worse against Baltimore. The Ravens also have a more balanced offense. I expect Air McNair to lead the charge and the Ravens' offense won't look like a bunch of incompetent goons like KC. The Ravens have the edge on offense, and can keep things close on defense. If they force some timely turnovers, this game could get really ugly. Saints 31, Eagles 21: I like the Saints offense to put up some good numbers, especially in the passing game. With Lito Sheppard out, Drew Brees could have some big plays down the field. That should open up some space for the McAllister/Bush combo to pile up some yards as well.The Saints D is passable and should be able to keep the Eagles from scoring an unreasonable number of points. I say the Jeff Garcia nightmare finally ends. Seahawks 24, Bears 10: My ridiculous pick of the week. Like many, I'm not sold on the Bears. The offense is weak, and the Seahawks have enough talent to put up some points on the Bears D. Though inconsistent, Seattle's D isn't too bad, and is certainly capable of shutting down Rex Grossman. Patriots 23, Chargers 20: These two teams are very evenly matched. Both bring a good defense to the table. SD has the edge in the running game, but New England is better off in the passing department, especially at the QB position. Special teams are a push. With these teams putting equally talented teams on the field, it's going to come down to how they are used. With that I look to coaching. I see playoff Schottenheimer vs. Playoff Bellicheck. I'll take the Pats.

I don't know if I'd go that far. It was fine as a story building match, but it was lacking some stuff to be a true classic. It needed some early blood from Cena, more "will the ref stop the match" spots, and a very bloody comeback before the failed FU spot. It also probably would've been better for Umaga to win via ref stoppage after something really violent (maybe Cena kicks out of one Samoan Spike, then Umaga does it repeatedly causing interal bleeding). The way they went was the best way to go with Cena winning, but Cena losing and getting the title back later would've been better overall. As it stands, I thought the story was a little bit of a stretch. We've seen Cena take ridiculous beatings before and still come back with the FU. Think about his JD 05 match with JBL where he does one of the sickest blades ever, but still fights the whole way and wins convincingly. Cena's whole gimmick is about heart or fighting spirit or whatever you want to call it, so he needs to take an exceptional beating to actually put over the opponent. I will say he takes the best over-the-top-rope bump I've ever seen, though.

I know no one cares about this show, but I'm going, so I'm looking forward to it. What do you all think I'll be subjected to? John Cena vs. Umaga (WWE title): A little bit of a tougher call than I was expecting. I don't know what they can do with Umaga if he takes a fall since his gimmick really only works if he's undefeated. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they just put Cena over clean. However, I'll go out on a limb and say they give Umaga the belt for a bit due to controversial ref stoppage. DX vs. Rated RKO (Tag titles): With the titles on the line, this match becomes somewhat more interesting. DX did openly say they didn't care about the titles a couple weeks ago, right? I was thinking for a while R-RKO retains, either by lots of cheating or through some DQ bullshit. It'll be interesting if this has any affects on the WWE title match, though. If they do my proposed ref stoppage idea, they might give the belts to DX to keep the fans somewhat happy. I could see DX winning the belts, then R-RKO costing them a match against TWGTT in a couple weeks. Jeff Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro (Steel Cage, IC title): Should be a fun match, as these two usually put on a good show. A couple big spots for sure, but I think the entire match will be solid. I can't imagine Hardy losing the title, especially with it being likely to see at least 1 big match go to the heels. Plus, there's really no reason to put the belt back on Nitro at this point. Mickie James vs. Victoria (Women's title): A very interesting angle that potentially still has some legs. A Victoria win could set up the rise of a new women's wrestler who takes the title at Mania to stop her reign of terror. However, I don't think WWE has any real plans to drag out a women's angle (as evidenced by how badly they screwed up Trish/Mickie after Mania last year). I say Mickie wins, and nothing happens. Ric Flair vs. Kenny Dykstra: It would be so WWE to build up Kenny on tv then have him lose clean at a ppv. I don't see that happening, though. They seem to really like Kenny, and they have no problems putting anyone over Flair. Kenny wins and moves on. Carlito vs. Chris Masters: Battle of the aimless midcarders! Carlito wins to pop the crowd, even though there's a good chance we'll be dead after he mails in another performance. I'm interested in the top 3 matches, for the results if nothing else, though I expect DX/R-RKO and Hardy/Nitro to be decent to good. Hopefully the show delivers something. Good match, shocking outcome, anything.

What's T-Mac's 30+ point streak at now? It's gotta be 5 or 6 games at least.

The only saving grace for HHH here is that it wasn't the same quad as last time. If it was his left one again, I'd say he might be done. However, I could see him coming back from this. Yeah, he's 5 years older, more roided, has a kid, etc, but I think he'll be back. Hopefully his recovery time is a lot longer, though, since he clearly wasn't 100% when he came back last time and his work suffered greatly. It will be very interesting to see where Raw goes from here. Someone's gonna have to fill the #3 babyface spot (Shawn will move up to #2), but there's no clear choice. Jeff Hardy is the most over midcard face right now, and has been looking more motivated than ever since his return. If WWE ever had plans of pushing him to the next level, now would be the time to try it out.

Hahaha... Man, I knew this show was gonna get a lot of bitching. Imagine being there live after driving from KC after a decent ppv to see that horrible, horrible excuse of a show. Dark match was Kozlov vs. Eugene for the second night in a row. This time Kozlov worked the arm, sort of. The match was still terrible. Heat results: Raw itself was godawful. Lots of promos and short matches. The crowd was hot for Cena when he came out, but the Khali announcement combined with Rosie/Donald stuff killed everything for the rest of the night. Only things worth noting are as follows: The Rosie/Donald match got shit on big time. Loud "boring" chant was probably heard on tv. Also, there was a fairly loud "TNA" chant, which I hope picked up. There was a decent pop when it was finally over. On a more humorous note, Edge and Orton had to redo their entrance. They got cued out too early, but did the full entrance with smoke and everything. They then awkwardly walked back up the ramp and backstage. A minute or so later, they re-did the intro with no smoke and acted as if nothing happened. The dark ME was Cena beating Umaga easily with the FU. Not worth it.

This show certainly wasn't bad. It was better than Summer Slam (the last live show I attended). That's for sure. However, it was more of a filler ppv based around advancing angles, rather than finishing them. Other than what now seems to be HHH quad tear round two, nothing from this show was important. The dark match featured Vladimir Kozlov beating up Eugene. Kozlov did the dork gimmick for about 5 seconds before resorting to typical foreign cheap heat. He did a couple suplexes, a rest hold, some head butts, and finished Eugene off with the Shock Treatment. I thought the cage match was pretty fun. Both guys pulled out some good spots, and the sunset flip powerbomb looked great from my angle. I thought the finishing spot was pretty neat, though I think Jericho and X-Pac did it in their cage match in 2000. The tag team turmoil was too long, but not that bad. The Crazy/Hacksaw team was a total WTF moment for everyone in the crowd. I said the first Super Crazy clap chant as a joke, but some guys behind me actually started it a little later. Good to know it was audible. I thought forcing TWGTT to work face for a bit was stupid, and it killed the crowd. Cryme Tyme got a decent reaction, but no one knew how to react to Haas and Benjamin going from heel to face instantly. Flair/Dykstra was boring. Once Kenny didn't tap to the Figure 4, it was obvious he was going to win. Also, his Boston Crab looked terrible and lasted forever. He then cheated to win to little reaction. Mickie/Victoria wasn't too bad. Mickie looks really good in person. I thought the finish was an interesting way to continue the angle with a new twist. Candice, Maria, and Melina getting involved might actually sustain some direction for the women's division. DX easily got the loudest pop of the night and the crowd was way into their match with R-RKO. I thought it was a really fun match until HHH's injury. From there, it just fell apart, and no one really knew what was going on. I saw the ref throw up the "X," but I didn't know if they were working that or not. Props to HHH for toughing out the injury, whatever it was. It seemed obvious the match was headed for a non-finish, but it went down in the worst way possible. Shawn finally saved it by punching the ref. The table spots are a lot more fun to see in person. On a side note, say what you will about DX, but they are over to the max. They got one of the most deafening pops I've heard at a live event for one thing. Also, you know those glow sticks? They have venders selling those for 10 bucks a set. I thought "who the hell would pay $10 for glow sticks," but at least 5 sets were ordered in my immediate vicinity. Only problem is one little kid got them and kept waving them near my face until I told him to stop. Masters/Carlito was pretty heatless, as expected. Don't really know or care why Masters won. His kick to Carlito after the bell was good, though. Crowd was pretty into Cena, but not so much Umaga. Since the match was 90% Umaga, the crowd lost interest in it. The finish was a total shocker, with no one quite sure how to take it in. In retrospect, it's not a bad finish, but what an anti-climactic end to the ppv. Like I said, not bad overall, but the fallout will be much more interesting.

You know, I was really surprised with the Giants' effinciency and Plax of all people making big plays on that first drive. But now it looks like the real Giants have shown up, and it isn't pretty. How many false starts do they want?

The Pats ran away at the end, but that game was infinitely better than both games yesterday.