Scribbler's Predictions: 2015 NFL Wild Card Weekend

Kinda quick recap...or as quick as I am known to attempt, but usually unsuccessful at doing...the Indianapolis Colts and their 0.000000001% chance of winning the AFC South and remaining in playoff contention have been settled.  The New York Jets not only blew their shot at the last playoff spot, but their collapse fittingly came courtesy of Rex Ryan--the same man who was relieved of his duties there the year before.  (Apparently, Ryan also made NFL history by doing so because no head coach in professional football had ever eliminated his former team from playoff contention on the final weekend of the regular season after being fired the previous season. One word: salty.)  So much for the pretenders.  As for the contenders, the defending champion New England Patriots had already secured a first-round bye and were playing for home-field advantage, but wet the bed against the Meh-ami Dolphins as their future first-ballot HOF QB injured his ankle and gave up the #1 seed to the Denver Broncos. Finally, the Arizona Cardinals needed to win against the Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers to lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but DangeRuss & The Legion of Boom had a blowout as a late Christmas present in mind while the soon-to-be MVP Cam Newton convincingly got his Sir Dab-a-Lot on in Charlotte.  Now that I've covered what you already knew by now unless you follow my blog more than the NFL--which is flattering if you do--it's time to preview the beginning of the most bittersweet time of the year: NFL Wild Card Weekend, which features three rematches from the regular season this year, and the official road to knocking off the guys above.

Writing the Ship

So as many of you may have noticed--or not--I haven't posted anything to New Problem Tuesdays in nearly a year.  In case your curiosity may be overtaking you--and if it isn't, then let's pretend anyway--there are many reasons for my hiatus.  Between the 9-to-5 grind, family life, my other side hustle (i.e. music) and various other distractions, the usual suspects can easily be lined up and questioned.  However,there is a more heinous and culpable culprit who has prevented me from sharing one of my God-given talents and passions with you all: me.

If you've been a faithful follower of this blog since its inception in 2013, then one thing is clear: very few of my posts are short on words.  Because I have always allowed others to speak more than I do, everything that I want to say in face-to-face discussion vastly manifests itself in my writing.  With that said, it takes a lot of time and energy to get out all of my thoughts--often feeling like I still leave points on the field.  Thus, mental fatigue sets in trying to say things pursuant to my unique perspective. The thought of writing just ONE blog post let alone three to four often causes my brain to have a narcoleptic episode, consequently leading me to shut down and crawl into my jumbo-sized cubby hole.  So between the massive amount of police brutality cases, the shenanigans with the upcoming Presidential election and, of course, my favorite sport in the whole wide world, trust me when I tell you that I've had a whole lot to say about many topics; I just haven't felt like writing about any of it.

Scribbler's Black History Milestones: The Wide World of Sports

So I have a confession to make: in the past five years or so, I have not celebrated Black History Month in the way that I grew accustomed to doing when I was a child, teenager and young adult.  Maybe I've had a few self-righteous moments of feeling like Black history should be celebrated all year long.  Then again, maybe I was just too lazy to uncover more pivotal moments in our historical landscape.  Thus, one of the two ways that I have decided to commemorate Black History Month this year is to celebrate several people and/or events in different areas of our society that not only display the heritage of our people, but also provide a little more depth to the American narrative. After watching quite a few documentaries in the past week or so, I was inspired to begin this series in one of my favorite areas of discussion: sports.

Scribbler's Predictions: Super Bowl XLIX

So after having a bad case of the Bee Gees--and I don't mean Barry, Robin or Maurice--my planned summary of the AFC and NFC championship games couldn't get turned in on time last week.  Besides, there was only one game worth mentioning anyway in the improbable overtime thriller between the Packers and the Seahawks.  I usually don't watch non-Super Bowl games more than once, but being the largest comeback in any conference championship game and one of the greatest comebacks in NFL playoff history, I had to watch it again.  Conversely, I lost two-and-a-half hours of my life watching that debacle of a game now infamously known as "Deflategate" between the Patriots and some high school team from Indianapolis.  As far as I'm concerned, deflated footballs didn't matter since the Pats could've beaten the Colts with cement blocks tied to their ankles.  Anyway, we now have the two teams set to duke it out in Glendale, Arizona for Super Bowl XLIX, and there are many compelling smaller battles to explore within the bigger war.  Let's get at it, ladies and gents--well, it's probably more gents than ladies, but that's neither here nor there...

"I'm Not a Racist, But..."

Okay...so maybe you're not as racist as this guy.  Maybe your family never owned slaves.  Perhaps you don't walk up to the first person Black person you see and call him or her a "nigger".  There's a possibility that you don't believe in burning crosses on lawns or hanging "strange fruit" from trees and then having a ham sandwich and a cold glass of lemonade with the family to celebrate it.  However, you might be bold enough to say this...