After a long work week, NFL playoff Saturday is finally upon us and things couldn’t appear more inciting. Story lines are abundant and with only eight teams remaining to obtain the trophy seen above, we could very well be looking at the eventual Super Bowl champions today and not even know it. Read the rest of this entry »

And just like that, the regular season is over. The NFL playoffs always guarantee some sort of fireworks and with two games Saturday and another two Sunday, we shouldn’t have to wait long for the insanity to, well, kickoff. Paying homage to the pigskin and the excitement that is January football, the Crew decided to do something a tad different for our usual preview. Read the rest of this entry »

I may have mentioned an unbiased love for our Lord and Savior Drew Breesus, who tossed touchdowns for our sins a couple of seasons ago. There were worries that, during the lockout, we wouldn’t hear any words from the gospel of Drew. But fear not, the Saints QB has come out of his own pocket Read the rest of this entry »

For the last five years or so, I’ve been living the life of a vagabond, going from city to city in search of a big break or with halfway going to school. At every stop it seems like I land smack-dab in the middle of a crazy sporting event my new city rallies behind for good or bad. As the NBA playoffs are about to begin, I’m reminded of these insane moments that I was able to at least partially be a part of and witness. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m just going to get this out of the way right now: this post may be biased.

Drew Brees is our Lord and savior. And despite the fact Breesus and his Disciples got bounced from the playoffs in embarrassing fashion, his legend continues to rise. Read the rest of this entry »

Graphics by Anthoniaa

Remember when Boise St. was supposed to sneak into the national championship game and overthrow the bowl establishment, breaking through the glass ceiling and restoring our faith in the human spirit. That magical dream season came to a screeching halt when two field goal kicks sailed outside of the uprights, ending Boise’s chances at a national championship. America wept.

But heartbreak and sports go together like Kevin Garnett and cancer jokes. Read the rest of this entry »

Pic via Dirk

In the long and storied history of this country, it doesn’t get much more American than Thanksgiving and the NFL. And while John Madden isn’t around to give us the pigskin gospel, the combination still feels right. Plates are stacked as high as Phillip Rivers’ passer rating and positions on the couch are claimed at the crack of dawn to be in best view of the television. Read the rest of this entry »

I never claimed to be a mathematician or excellent in statistics. Yet, I’d say the probability of the New Orleans Saints repeating as NFL champions just went down the commode with today’s announcement that Drew Brees will be on the cover of Madden 2011. The news isn’t 100% just yet as voting is still going on, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter all but confirmed it, leaking the news via Twitter. Read the rest of this entry »

Joanna Joy!

The Short Life of the NFL Running Back [Black Sports Online]

Disney Might Actually Make a Lost Amusement Park Attraction [Vulture]

Rihanna Teaches How To Dutty Wine [FlyStyleLife]

10 Useless Gadgets You Absolutely Must Have [Coed]

Nike Air Max Triax ‘94 Neptune Blue [Hypebeast]

Jay Electronica’s NME Photoshoot [Nah Right] Read the rest of this entry »

Early on in youth sports after we learn the purpose of shaking hands in the team line & sportsmanship, we pick up the next lesson of never pinning a loss on the back of one team member. There will always be heroes and oftentimes obvious goats. But we’re taught never to single out one play or player as the cause for a loss.

Forget the fact that had the Colts won, Peyton Manning* would have been celebrated, his every word and action further venerated. We’re not supposed to talk about that. Don’t talk about the momentum swing that occurred as a result of pickoff that he threw in the fourth quarter.

Don’t focus on the negative; see the positive.

Note how Tracy Porter (and his hair) was a one-man show. How he (and the Saints defense) thwarted Peyton’s heroes on their quest to a second title in a matter of years. With his interception return of 74 yards for a touchdown, Porter sucked the wind of the Colts’ collective sails. Also remember that he had a key interception against Brett Favre two weeks prior and perhaps helped to write the final chapter in another storied career, inserting himself as a footnote there as well.

With Porter’s interception, he wasn’t exalted by himself. A whole city was given vindication…at least for a moment. Make no mistake about it: New Orleans did not magically recover from the devastation of Katrina because of a sporting event. Nobody’s that delusional, even though the media’s trying their best to sell the idea. But everybody who suffers deserves to be given a ray of hope to cling to and many Americans invest quite a bit of emotional energy into this business of sports. The revelry in the NO (which David D can attest) is all the way turnt up © Travis Porter, no relation, and may not come down with Mardi Gras right around the corner.

So don’t worry about the goat. Focus your attention on Tracy Porter, the Saints – the team formerly known as “The Aint’s” – and the city of New Orleans.

And two final things.

1. Tracy, be careful. As quick as the media attention and momentum have built to a swell, the fall from grace can be swift and brutal. Ask one of their most recent victims, Plaxico.

2. Detroit, there’s still hope. 2011 could be very well be yours.

*By and large, Manning is still the league’s best QB. Name another who’s had a higher trajectory over the course of his career. And when he puts down his pads for the final time, his name will likely be said with all the greats.

Despite fears of Manning overload being confirmed during the pre-game show, Super Bowl XLIV was still on of one of the more anticipated games in recent years. For the first time since the second Cowboys-Bills “showdown,” the top two seeds from each conference made it through their conferences unscathed. With two powerful offenses taking the field in the warm comforts of Miami, offense was assumed to be the showcase.

Only one team came out firing however. Following a weak Saints three and out on the first drive, Peyton Manning came out in beast mode, zinging passes into covered receivers and driving the Colts all over the field. Meanwhile, Saints receivers were having balls bounce off their face. The result: a quick 10-0 Colts lead and fears from haters everywhere that we were in for an Indy blowout.

But the Saints and Coach Sean Payton didn’t panic, sticking to their plan of frustrating the Colts deep with Cover 2 and taking what the Indy defense gave them. Brees quickly shed any pre-game jitters and the Saints own offense got into gear. But the Colts still seemed to have the upper hand, stoning Mike Bell on 4th and goal from the one with two minutes left. This was a bad coaching decision, in my opinion you always take the points in the first three quarters, even if driving to the one is frustrating as shit. But luckily for Payton, his team bailed him out, forcing a punt and driving to tack on a field goal to close the score to 10-6.

Colts fans can’t have felt good only being up four at that point, and things went from bad to worse when Payton teabagged their collective faces with his elephant nuts by calling for an onside kick to start the second half. This time the Saints capitalized, as Thomas juked about four Colts out of their socks on a TD screen pass.

Peyton, of course, wasn’t done. The highlight of this drive, and maybe of the Super Bowl was an unbelievable roll out pass to Dallas Clark, lofted perfectly into quintuple coverage. As one of the bigger Brady stans on the planet, I’ll admit no one else could have made that throw. And as an avid Colts detractor, I assume that we were going to see the same thing we had all year—the Colts putting away teams in the second half.

But a key coaching decision cost the Colts big: the decision to kick a 51 yard field goal with NFL senior citizen Matt Stover as your kicker. Caldwell showed way too much confidence in his defense, which had stopped generating any pressure and was allowing Brees to sit back and find the open man all day long. Given a short field, Brees looked cool as a cucumber finding Bush, Colston and Shockey on his way to giving the Saints a fourth quarter lead. A little help from the refs on the two-point conversion didn’t hurt either.

With the Saints up 24-17, there was plenty of time for Peyton to heroically lead them to a tie, or even a win. But faced with the pressure of Super Bowl defeat, his once crisp throws started getting a little of that New Orleans wobble wobble. The opportunistic Saints D took advantage. Tracy Porter stepped in front of a Wayne in-route, headed to the house and sealed the deal for New Orleans.

In the aftermath, the NFL continued its recent tradition of good to excellent Super Bowls. Both teams played at a very high level and, Jim Caldwell aside, no one really came away looking bad. While it’s definitely true that Peyton came up small in the fourth, he did keep the Colts in control of the game for the first half. In the end, the Saints were just too damn good on all sides of the ball—the best team did win. Congratulations to New Orleans fans, you deserve it.

One last game.

With the Pro Bowl thankfully out of the way football closes out another year with arguably the biggest sporting event of the year.  With two high octane offenses facing each other, we should be in for a treat.  Peyton Manning is looking to further cement his place in history, while the Saint’s are carrying the city of New Orleans on their shoulders.  Since these are, without a doubt, the top-rated teams this year its hard to call either team an underdog.  Yet that’s the position the Saints are in with almost everyone already giving the game to Indy.  We’ve played it out in our minds, via simulation & it’s been broken down by ESPN’s talking heads to the point that we almost don’t have a reason to tune in to the game.

Oh yeah… for the commercials.  Check below for the beleaguered Crew’s picks for winner and MVP.  Then, weigh in with your opinion as we countdown to kickoff. Read the rest of this entry »

Deserae Martinez Makes A Wonderful Saturday

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over: Heinz Redesigns Ketchup Packet [The Consumerist]

Things a 13-Year-Old Kid Should Be Doing Instead of Committing to USC Football [Our Kitchen Sink]

Ultimate Hustler: Karrine Steffans Partners With Larry Flynt [BV Buzz]

How One Band May Have Finally Killed Off the Self-Tribute Trend [Pop Matters]

Holy Anne Hathaway Hotness, Batman! [Egotastic] Read the rest of this entry »

Can’t wait til Sunday for the big game?  Still having trouble deciding who you want to place your wager on? Will the spread will be covered?   The good folks at EA Sports hypothetically answer all these question with their annual Super Bowl Simulation on Madden 10.  In the offensive slugfest we’re all hoping for, the Saints egde out the Colts 35-31 with Drew Brees taking home the MVP honors.

Going back to 2004, EA’s simulation has correctly picked each winner except for 2008 when the Giants shocked the world.  So they’ve got a track record in getting this right so that goes a long way to show how realistic the game has become, but not why I find the controls so complicated that I didn’t even buy Madden this year.  Read below as EA explains how they went about this and check out a video of the simulated highlights.

Utilizing each team’s current roster and the latest player statistics, Madden NFL 10 was able to accurately predict the outcome of both the NFC and AFC Championship games within a margin of three points for each game. EA SPORTS utilized this same simulation formula to predict the outcome of Super Bowl XLIII (Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals) with unprecedented accuracy – down to the final score and individual player statistics. EA SPORTS has correctly predicted the Super Bowl winner for five out of the last six years, since the official Madden NFL Super Bowl simulation began in 2004.

[Via]

Dear future wife,

On our wedding night. Or the day our firstborn is…well…born. Or after you give me my first Double Kangaroo Sloppy Pocky, I will gaze lovingly into your eyes and tell you that day is the greatest day of my life.

It will be a lie.

January 24, 2010 will probably forever be the greatest day of my life. We all know the story. Saints beat the Vikings in an exhilarating game that sent the Who Dat Nation to the Super Bowl. Read the rest of this entry »