As much as I love the NFL, there is nothing worse than investing so much time and energy into watching as many games as possible over 17 weeks only to have a letdown in the playoffs--and that's beyond the Raiders getting handled by the Texans last week. (Yup...still salty.) With the Wild Card Weekend games being decided by an average of 19 points, last week was highly disappointing and hopes were high for better showings in the Divisional Round. However, the first half of the weekend wasn't shaping up to be much better and it appeared the same thing might happen in the second half. Nevertheless, by 11:30 p.m. Sunday night, avid football fans had been treated to two competitive contests this weekend, including what could be the best game of the playoffs depending on who ends up in Houston...
Although I had to correct Big Dadi Scribbler on a few historical facts--he thought the Browns played in the NFC at some point since the AFL-NFL merger when they've always been in the AFC--I had an intriguing conversation with him about old school football. As a football, softball and track and field star for Coolidge High School in Northwest D.C., one of the things he noted was how rough defensive backs were against receivers--so much that one of the biggest reasons wideouts would get alligator arms was because of the ferocious hand checking before a lot of the illegal contact rules were imposed. In fact, he started off as a receiver before making the transition to defense, a welcomed change in which he inflicted the same abuse on opposing receivers he endured on offense. However, perhaps the most interesting facts I never knew about my dad when constantly hearing how legendary he was as an athlete was he was also a kicker and a punter, forcing several touchbacks on kickoffs and leading the league in net punting average one season. Considering Week 11's struggle kicking as eleven misfires led to the most amount of failed extra points in a week since 1966, I'm sure several teams would've loved to have a sure-footed boot like the Scribbler patriarch. Now that I've done at least two or three shameless plugs for dear old dad in one calendar year, let's discuss some new school football...
