The planets are slowly moving into place.

I have not checked the Mayan calendar lately, but I’m hoping the end of the world is not the result of this weekend’s lineup.  If it is … it might be a nice way to duck out of existence.

As a sports fan and especially, longtime football fan, this weekend is gonna be one of those rare … SPORTS-GASMS.

Check out this 4-DAY lineup of football ecstasy!!

• DAY: Friday
• GAME: Eastern Washington Eagles vs Delaware Fightin Blue Hens
• CHANNEL: ESPN2
• KICKOFF: 4pm PST
• AT STAKE: FCS Championship

It all begins Friday night with the FCS Championship down in a suburb of Dallas called Frisco.  The red-turf Eagles of Eastern Washington will attempt to defeat back-to-back CAA opponents when they line up against the Fightin Blue Hens of Delaware at Pizza Hut Park.  The Eagles beat Villanova (CAA) in the semis, but I’m more convinced Nova beat themselves.  Delaware brings the best defense in FCS to the game and a NFL ready QB in Pat Devlin, the Eagles bring their high-scoring offense … something’s gotta give.

• DAY: Saturday
• GAMES: New Orleans Saints vs Seahawks , NY Jets vs Indianapolis Colts
  
• CHANNELS: NBC, NBC
  
• KICKOFFS: 1:30pm, 5pm
  
• AT STAKE: NFL Wildcard

Is this the who-cares game of the weekend, if you’re not a Seattle or Naw’lens resident?  I’ll watch, but I might be doing something else as well.  If the Saints don’t blow up the Sea Chickens, well, it’ll be a sad way for the defending champs to roll over.  And routing for the underdog in this game just feels dirty.  I want Brees in the Divisional round so the Saints can put a real scare in somebody back East.

Awesome match-up in Indy.  The brash-tough-guy Jets with Rex Ryan vs Robo-Manning and that coach we still tend to forget.  Super QB vs Feisty defense.  I’m kinda worn out from all the Jets talk this season… Hard Knocks, foot-fetish, Sterger-Favre, Ines Sainz.  Enough already.  I’m backing Peyton to pull the plug on the J-E-T-S.

• DAY: Sunday
• GAMES: Baltimore Ravens vs Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers vs Philadelphia Eagles
  
• CHANNELS: CBS, FOX
  
• KICKOFFS: 10am PST, 1:30pm PST
  
• AT STAKE: NFL Wildcard
  

Well we’re gonna find out how for-real the KC Chiefs are Sunday morning when the battle-tested Ravens suit up at Arrowhead.  Both teams have play-makers on offense, but the obvious difference is the amount of warriors Baltimore has on defense compared to KC.  Not, even, close.  Matt Cassel might be in for a long day pulling turf from his face mask.

Game 2 should be the more entertaining one to tune in.  Spread-the-ball-around Aaron Rodgers vs run-around-and-throw Mike Vick.  I don’t get the feeling this will be a defensive game.  Rodgers will find holes in the Philly D and Vick will elude the Packer linebackers enough to make plays down field.  Let’s call it 31-30 Packers.

• DAY: Monday
• GAME: Oregon Ducks vs Auburn Tigers
• CHANNEL: ESPN2
• KICKOFF: 5:30pm PST
• AT STAKE: BCS Championship

The finale is nonetheless the BCS Championship with your Oregon Ducks attempting to wrangle the Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton and his Auburn Tigers.  We are finally within a week of playing this game.  No more analysis, no more hearing SEC honks say “they haven’t seen a team like us yet”, no more … uh waiting.  Personally, every time somebody on ESPN begins talking about this game I turn the channel.  I just wanna watch at this point.  It is simply ridiculous to have to wait over a month for a championship.  Okay, got that off my chest.  Monday night will be all about cold beers and great football.  I look forward to finding out what Chip Kelly has up his sleeve.

Now that the season is almost half over, it’s time to take a weekly look at the playoff picture in the NFL.  Now for the NFC.  The NFC is a hot mess.

The Division Leaders:

NY Giants (5-2) - After the Giants started 1-2 who would have thought they would be the class of the NFC by week 8?  The Giants have won 4 straight on the strength of their pass rush.  However as with all the teams in the NFC this team can implode at any time.   Chance of making playoffs – 90%

Green Bay Packers (5-3) - The Packers are the best of a disappointing NFC North division.  All 3 of their losses have come by 3 points and they have the best QB in the conference.  Should be a playoff team. Chance of making the playoffs – 85%

Atlanta Falcons / Tampa Bay Bucaneers (5-2) - These two square off for the first time this weekend.  I was just being nice putting Tampa Bay on here, they have to be the worst 5-2 team evah.  Falcon fans don’t laugh, you aren’t winning the division either.  Chance of making the playoffs – 65% (Atlanta) / 35% (Tampa Bay)

Seattle Seahawks (4-3) - What a shitty division.  All teams have a minus point differential. Seattle might be the best turd of the bunch.  Chance of making the playoffs – 60%

The Wild Card Leaders:

New Orleans Saints (5-3) - Heavy is the head that wears the crown.  Everyone is gunning for the Saints this year.  I expect the Saints to make a nice run with their soft 2nd half schedule. Chance of making the playoffs – 90%

Philadelphia Eagles (4-3) – If DeSean Jackson and Mike Vick come back healthy the Eagles are a respectable team.  Without them they fall into the next category. Chance of making the playoffs – 50%

Have Some Work To Do:

The rest of this shitty conference falls into this category.  St Louis (4-4) could make a run at Seattle, Sam Bradford has been a pleasant surprise for them.  Washington (4-4) is a hot pile of crap, but is still in the playoff race.  Chicago (4-3)got off to a nice start, but recently lost to Seattle at home, who the hell loses to Seattle at home?  I can’t believe I’m typing this, but Minnesota (2-5) is not out of it.  Only NFC teams and Buffalo remain on their schedule.

Now that the season is almost half over, it’s time to take a weekly look at the playoff picture in the NFL.  We’ll start with the AFC.

The Division Leaders:

New England Patriots (6-1) – The Patriots have been playing good football since they got blasted by the Jets.  I still question whether that defense can stop a good offense like Indy.  Chance of making playoffs – 100%

Baltimore Ravens (5-2) – The Ravens are tied with the Steelers but have a win over the Steelers giving them the division lead.  The Ravens were my pre-season favorite to win the Super Bowl (no link available) now that I’ve seen them play I know that was a terrible pick.  Joe Flacco is never winning a Super Bowl.  Chance of making the playoffs – 75%

Indianapolis Colts (5-2) – The Cots are having another good regular season.  But after the Super Bowl meltdown last year I wouldn’t put any money on them winning another.  Chance of making the playoffs – 100%

Kansas City Chiefs (5-2) – The Chiefs have a 2-1/2 game lead on the Chargers and looking at the schedule for the two teams it looks like KC will take this division.  Sometimes just playing decent football is good enough.  Chance of making the playoffs – 70%

The Wild Card Leaders:

Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2) – The Steelers were able to overcome the Rapist’s suspension and the early season injury to Dennis Dixon.  I think they will overtake the Ravens and win the division. Chance of making the playoffs – 85%

NY Jets (5-2) – The Jets have looked great up until the stinkers against the Packers.  And that was coming off of a bye week.  A nice dose of the Lions and the Browns should heal what ails their offense.  Chance of making the playoffs – 75%

Have Some Work To Do:

Tennessee Titans (5-3) – The Titans always seem to be in the mix.  Jeff Fisher is one of the best coaches in the NFL.  They still have Indy twice, Houston twice and at the Dolphins.  It wouldn’t surprise me if they make it in, but I wouldn’t count on it. Chance of making the playoffs – 30%

San Diego Chargers (3-5) – The Chargers did what they always do in the first half of the season, severely under achieve.  Will they pull it together and overtake the Chiefs?  Maybe.  Chance of making the playoffs – 30%

Miami Dolphins (4-3) – The Dolphins are a nice team.  Their losses have been against the Jets, Patriots and Steelers, however all of those were at home.  They have some winnable games left on the schedule, but they’ll need to do a better job of defending their home turf.  Chance of making the playoffs – 25%

Oakland Raiders (4-4) – When the Raiders are sitting at 8-8 they sure are going to hate themselves for losing to Arizona and San Francisco.  Chance of making the playoffs – 5%

Houston Texans (4-3) – Houston is always decent, but never good enough.  Plus I can’t put much faith in a team that lost to Dallas.  Chance of making the playoffs – 5%

By the time this is posted early Thursday morning, my last one hundred and seventy plus minutes have been pathetically wasted on watching the 2007 WCCOP (World Championships of Online Poker), Seven Card Stud High/Low Split final table on YouTube. One of the many, many drawbacks to being a degenerate, problem gambler, is the excruciating long, two weeks between Championship Sunday of the NFL Playoffs and The Super Bowl, (it has officially become a National Holiday Right?). Which provides more than enough time, to plot revenge upon my bookie; Payback for all the financial beatings, which were handed out during the long course of the football season. My state of complete desperation for action led to me intently staring at a computer screen for over two long hours, watching a two-year-old video of an online poker game. Which happened to be accompanied with extremely riveting live audio commentary and insight, by legendary Barry Greenstein. So here at last, the definitive gambling guide for Super Bowl XLIV!

Last years Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals was one of the most heavily bet games of all time, with over 81.5 million dollars being legally wagered and accounted for by the Nevada Gaming Industry. The illegal numbers, according to a friend who, may or may not accept bets, apparently weren’t too shabby either. Having said that, this year’s game has been predicted to absolutely destroy last year’s numbers. Between Manning vs. Brees, the revival of New Orleans, and Archie Manning some estimations see that number possibly reaching over 100 million dollars. Easily making this years game the most wagered, single game in the history of Nevada sports gambling.

Opening with Indianapolis as a 3.5-point favorite on Monday, the line was quickly bet up to –7.5 at most online and Nevada Casinos, by the end of the weekend, . As of right now, the number comfortably rests with Cots –4.5, a very solid value play. The Over/Under has settled fairly consistently across the board in the 56.5 range, with little to no movement. Expect the line to have at least one last spike left in it during the next couple of days, as the weekend kickoff draws nearer. With the line coming back down to -4.5, it means that the sharks and wise guys have basically finished playing all of their money. Just leaving the last second playing general public, which is believed to heavily favor the Colts, to put a lot of money into play. Meaning the line will probably bump back up a few points and settle around Colts –6.5 before Sunday’s scheduled kickoff.

Coming off the second half beat-down the Colts gave the Jets, and combined with having the indisputable best player in the game, and arguably the best quarterback of all-time in Peyton Manning, Indianapolis looks like the overwhelming smart play. Then throw in how terrible New Orleans played against the Vikings, and top it off with the Colts record against the spread, a terrific 12-5-1. With two of those losses coming when they decided to sit their starters. With the line currently sitting at 4.5, there is more than enough value to confidently play the Colts here. Meaning, I highly recommend betting the house, farm, car, and kids tuitions money. It’s a complete guaranteed, absolute lock!

Conversely, factor in a Saints team that is only 9-9 against the spread fort he season. Which also happened to close out the season a meager 3-6, respectively, all even after considering their insanely hot start. During which they went a perfect 6-0. Simply put, there is just absolutely no value left in playing the Saints. If any one out there is contemplating playing New Orleans, look to parlay the money line with the over, as a Saints win would most likely be in a shootout. Also think about insuring the bet against the spread with the Colts, would be even smarter of a play yet.

For those of you who pounced on the line early, the even smarter play here is buying insurance, and hammering the attempted double cover. In fact, if the line manages to crawl back up to the –6.5 range that is exactly what should be done. All in all feel very comfortable playing the Colts here, and don’t let yourself be talked out of easy money because the long wait let to many thoughts cloud your judgment. Simply throw down your wallet back in your bookies face and take the colts. Along with all of your seasons losses, and his entire bankroll, plus tax of course!

**Part Two Covering Prop Bets Coming Tomorrow!

-Also for more info on gambling and the sports betting industry read ESPN Insider Chad Millman’s Blog

 I have no idea why we haven’t been breaking down how the Saints D will squat on routes, why Peyton Manning will make plays down the field in the passing game, and how the Saints will get the ball to Reggie’s Bush in space.  Well, actually I do know why, because the game is an eternity away!  However, you can bet that our Super Bowl Preview (of which not a single word has been written yet) will be way more entertaining than anything Schlereth, Hoge, or Jaworski will spend these two weeks jamming down your throat.  Stay tuned for that next week.   

Until then,  to ease your football fix, I offer a great reminder of what went down last weekend, and why it was so great:

Paveman Photos

And what took place on the field after this wild scene…

Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Ha Ha!  The view from those end zone seats had to be beautiful on that game-clinching pick.  And you knew the Vikings were not winning the coin toss!  Happy first weekend with no football in 4 months…