Wednesday Afternoon Reserve Punter

I need to admit, I am completely ignorant when it comes to history, especially modern. It's really embarrassing. I am fascinated with the entire Nixon administration, but really know very litte about it. An example of my ignorance: When reading/ watching "Watchmen", I never understood the correlation between Dr. Manhattan helping the US win in Vietnam and Nixon having more than two terms in office. I really know very little about Vietnam. For this I blam the schools. Every year that I'd take history, the class would end before we really covered the 20th century. So along with my ignorance of Vietnam, I know very little about World War I.

I will say, though, it's funny how the story of history is penned by those who won the wars. Perfect examples are the American Revolution and the American Civil War. They're both basically the same war. In both wars you had one faction of people (the colonies, the South) that wished to leave the nation they belonged to and create their own. The difference between the two was the winner. In the American Revolution, the revolutionaries won so that's what it was named. In the Civil War, the government won so it wasn't called a revolution, but just a Civil War. I'm sure histories riddled with such things that I'm mainly ignorant about.

Anyway, on to the WARP.

Week 17 Power Rankings

1,) S,D, Chargers
2.) Indy Colts
3.) N.O. Saints
4.) Minny Vikings
5.) G.B. Packers
6.) Dallas Cowboys
7.) Baltimore Ravens
8.) Philly Eagles
9.) N. E. Patriots
10.) Zona Cardinals
11.) Cincy Bengals
12.) NYJ

Week 17 Thoughts I Think I Thought About Thinking

1.) I'm not sure I've ever seen such a talented team quit the way the Giants did the past few weeks. If you compared to those performances to earlier ones, it was obvious that they'd mailed it in. Disgraceful. I put more effort into watching the game than they did in to winning it.

2.) Embarassing how the Jets got in to the playoffs. They're last two games were against teams that rolled over for them. How does that make Pittsburgh feel who had to play a real Cincy team twice. What about Houston, who had to play a full strength Indy twice? Now, it's not the Jets fault. They took advantage of the situation, but it does bring light to the fact that something's wrong here. I'm not sure that it can even be fixed, but it just felt wrong.

3.) People who're pointing to the Wes Welker injure to back their arguments that Indy did the right thing benching its players are so ridiculously wrong. The circumstances are entirely different. Indy was going for a perfect season, the Pats were going for a three seed. Moreover, injuries can happen anytime during a game. So the argument should be made that Peyton shouldn't even dress for the games. He could get injured in the first half. Now, these teams have earned the right to play the games how they want to. It's just my opinion that going for a perfect season is something special.

4.) Up 35-0 in the third quarter against a Giants team the clearly didn't care, the Vikings came to a fourth and goal. And went for it. And scored a TD. Why? Why not just kick the field goal? The Giants players probably weren't embarassed as they didn't care, but the Giants coach sure cares. Why try to embarrass him? That's just wrong.

5.) Has anyone ever gone from the fantasy scrap heap to next year's potential top five pick quicker than Jerome Harrison?

6.) Three rematches from last week this week. I've thought about it and decided I've no idea whcih way that swings things. All three games were blowouts. All three teams that were blown out weren't fighting for their playoff lives. So, either the winners have the confidence edge going into the next game, or they're overconfident. I'm not entirely sure what the pattern would be so last week's games will have little effect on this week's picks.

7.) NYJ @ Cincy. Some people are pointing to the fact that Cincy's starters were mostly in and got destroyed to argue that NYJ are the better team. I'm not sure about that. While Cincy's starters were in, they were playing with the urgence of a team that had nothing to play for. I don't think they showed the Jets anything offensively or defensively that they'd use in the playoffs. Whereas the Jets, on the other hand, did tip their hand some. They ran the option to great success. There's no way that that should be the case this week. If a single option play gains more than eight yards, Marvin Lewis should be fired before they line up for the next play. Plus, you've got the Shancize on the road in the playoffs. Cincy's the pick.

8.) Philly Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are hot. The Cowboys are scary. The Cowboys have beaten Philly twice already. I don't know if McNabb's going to have back to back off games. I don't expect Maclin and Jackson to be held in check twice in a row. Philly's too good to be swept. Plus, the kicker diffference scares me. Eagles are the pick here.

9.) Ravens @ Pats. The loss of Welker cripples the Patriot offense. Moss has never been accused of being a big game performer and now the focus of the Ravens D will be on him. I'm not convinced the Pats can run the ball and Rice and Willis should have big games. Ravens are the pick.

10.) Packers @ Cards. I'm not sold on the Cards. They've been a better road team than home. Warner's been hit or miss. On the other side, the Packers seem to be peaking. They're giving Rodgers enough time now. Of course, if Larry could come close to what he did last postseason, the Packers probably won't win. But I could see a big Woodson play here. Plus, I'm elfish and would love to see a Packers-Vikings playoff game so the Packers are my pick.

Limerick of the Week

In the postseason there are no guarantees
It doesn't matter what your expertise
I must confess
It has to impress
How Chad Ochocinco heals his knees

Peace