Say it ain't so Pete.

The Atlanta Falcons are interested in Southern California coach Pete Carroll for their head coaching job.

A person familiar with the team’s coaching situation told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Falcons want to speak with Carroll, who is on vacation in Hawaii. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Falcons have not officially met with Carroll.

I would love to see a coach take the easy road for once. Pete, stay at USC. On one hand you can make these Falcon rumors true and go coach one of the worst franchises in the NFL, in a city with terrible heat, and that by and large hates sports. Yes, you don't have the greatest track record in your previous coaching run within the NFL, but let the sleeping dogs lie. Stay with the job in lovely Los Angeles at a school that will always be a top 5 college football program, is relatively stress free, and your surrounded by some of the hottest women on the planet. Yes, you can't partake in violating these young and unsuspecting women with your team, but it's fun none the less.

More reasons the NCAA is run by idiots.

The heir to Chad Henne's thrown as Quarterback for Michigan, Ryan Mallet, is leaving Ann Arbor due to the coaching change. Lloyd car will be bringing his pro style offense with him, while incoming coach Rich Rodriguez will be implementing the spread offense. For those who don't know, the spread offense requires a QB that can run slightly better than he can throw. Think the option with an occasional forward pass.

Anyway, the awesome and always reasonable rules of the NCAA will make Mallet ineligible to play next year, essentially delaying him for a year. Yes, he'll have three years left to play but missing a year in the ultra-competitive world of college sports is huge. The depth chart goes as deep as 9th string in some programs. This is exactly what happened to me when I was playing football. The coach left, I transferred, and boom my career was over. Plain and simple, I'm wasted talent.

Hey Goose, you big stud.

Rich "Goose" Gossage became only the fifth relief pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame, earning baseball's highest honor Tuesday on his ninth try on the ballot.

Known for his overpowering fastball, fiery temperament and bushy mustache, the Goose received 466 of 543 votes (85.8 percent) from 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Gossage was the only player voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 2008 ballot. Jim Rice, who has just one year remaining on the ballot, finished just 16 votes short of induction.

The fact that Jim Rice or Andre Dawson have yet to get into the HOF is a joke. Tim Raines, who is arguably the 2nd best lead-off hitter of all time should be in as well. This was his first year on the ballot, so hopefully by year 3 or 4 enough of the baseball writers will come to their senses.

Other notables include Mark Mcgwire, who received 23% of the vote might want to take interest in this whole Clemens fiasco. If Roger can clear himself in some way within the public forum McGwire might have a chance to sneak in. Personally, I don't think McGwire should get in, specifically because his career is based on steroids. Without them and he is Dave Kingman that makes slightly more contact. Jack Morris, like Andrew Dawson and Jim Rice, are victims of when they played. All should be in the Hall.

I love that guys like Travis Fryman get 2 votes, and Shawon Dunston and Chuck Knoblach get a vote each. At some point during their careers, they each were considered a top player at their position, if not the top. If there was a Hall of Fame for bloggers, I think I might end up like Jim Rice.

I'm a legend in my time, yet severly underrated.

Bowl Supremacy

I picked 24 of the 32 Bowl games, and went 16-7-1. Not to shabby if I do say so myself. My legal team told me to preface my picks with the cliched "for entertainment purposes only" comment. I hope I entertained you sufficiently. This is my victory dance.

Peace out playa.

Joe Gibbs is retiring for a second time. The Washington Redskins' Hall of Fame coach announced his decision early Tuesday. The team has called a press conference for 3 p.m EST.
Gibbs, 67, will continue to work for the Redskins as a special advisor to owner Dan Snyder. Gibbs' decision comes only a month after he said he was open to extending his existing contract.

This most recent play-off run aside, Gibbs really hasn't helped progress the Redskins in any way. Since returning to the Redskins, he has posted a 31-36 record, going 1-2 in the postseason.

First, here's a few Redskinettes (the 'Skins cheerleaders) in bikini's displaying there skankiness, because there's no reason to see another picture Gibbs. Secondly, Joe Gibbs is a good ole boy that likes his NASCAR fast, his spittoon cleaned twice daily, and his black superstars non-threatening. Needless to say the game has passed him by. No, I'm not saying that Joe Gibbs is a by-the-numbers racist southerner. I just like to pigeon-hole people by stereotypes. If you need me I'll be over here secretly running the world, and eating a bagel.

Yay, the BCS works [sarcasm]

Quarterback Matt Flynn threw two of his four touchdown passes while guiding the Tigers on four consecutive scoring drives in the first half. The run paved the way for LSU to capture its second national championship in four years and first in three seasons under coach Les Miles. The Tigers defeated Oklahoma 21-14 in the Superdome for the 2003 national title. It was the fourth time this season LSU rallied from a 10-point deficit.

"We had to keep playing," Flynn said of the early hole the Tigers were in. "We knew they were going to come out with a big surge. We knew we just had to stay in there and keep playing our game."

So, are we done with Ohio State yet? I think the Buckeyes are a solid program but they've had two shots to reign supreme and whiffed hard on both. Each time there were other teams waiting in the wings, claiming that they should have gotten a chance at the title. Last year the Buckeyes deserved to play for the title. This year, not so much. Georgia and USC, are at least two teams that should have been playing in this game.

This brings us back to the same old argument about a playoff system. Let's face it, it's not going to happen. College football is to wrapped up in it's own traditions, and more importantly, the tons of money those traditions generate.

All the good ole Bowl games that people like Brent Musberger and Lee Corso know and love are dead. First off, there's 32 effin games. Simple math shows that 64 teams play, which is over half the D1 teams. How special can a bowl game be when there are teams at .500 playing. The conference affiliation to bowl games is gone. When the Rose Bowl tried to revive the old Pac 10 vs. Big 10 rivalry with USC/Illinois, it was a disaster in terms of what happened on the field.

My favorite excuse against the playoff system is "the kids have to prepare for finals, they're student/athletes." That makes me chuckle as 30+ FSU students are suspended for cheating, and we watch countless recruits roll around in $50,000 SUV's and sport diamond earrings.

Exorcise those demons.

The Giants moved to 8-1 away from home with a dominating 24-14 NFC-wild-card playoff victory over the Buccaneers. The younger Manning, who turned 27 on Thursday, recorded his first playoff win in his third postseason start and fourth year as the Giants' starter. It took Peyton Manning six seasons and four attempts to get his first postseason triumph.

"This was a great game, a playoff game, a lot of pressure on him and he stood in there," Giants defensive end Michael Strahan said of his Manning. "You couldn't ask anything more from him and I think it was a great performance by Eli."

The Giants are fortunate they play the games and don't follow what the so-called experts say. Despite a 9-7 record while playing in arguably the worst division in football, everybody seemed to pick the Buccaneers. Most of the reasoning went to the annoying "Patriots hangover", Tampa Bay Quarterback Jeff Garcia's 2-0 record against the Giants in the playoffs, and of course the inconsistency of Eli.

With this playoff win, both Eli Manning and Giant coach Tom Coughlin, silenced their critics and secured their position within the Giants organization, despite of what happens in the game next week against Dallas.

Lock up the white hoochies in Tampa, Strahan is partying.

Wild Card Sunday

More significant football. I was getting to used to having pretend interest in the Hellman's Mayonnaise Bowl in Fargo, South Dakota.

New York (10-6) at Tampa Bay (9-7) - Full disclosure, I am a Giant fan. Now that my bias is in full view, can we please find a so-called expert picking the Bucs that isn't using terms like "Patriots hangover" or "the Giants will find it hard to match that emotion." Idiots.

I side with the train of thought that says playing a football game is better than resting your players. Just look at the Colts, up until last year of course. For years, they would clinch the playoff spot by week 12 or 13, rest Peyton and their gaggle of stars, and then BOOM, first round playoff loss. I mention this because Coughlin has been getting heat for playing his Giant players last week against the Patriots. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tampa coach Jon Gruden has been resting all of his players, including QB Jeff Garcia who hasn't played since the first half of Week 16.

Why I think the Giants can win. Jeff Garcia has beaten the Giants twice in the playoffs since 2003, with the Niners and Eagles respectively. Let's face it though, this is a different Giants defense. They are faster, more aggressive, and their front seven is dominant. Tampa won their division with a 9-7 record. Oh yeah, this is the worst division in football, FYI. The Giants, they played Dallas twice, an emotional Redskin team, the Eagles while they were playing the best football in the NFL, the Packers, a red hot Minnesota, and of course the Patriots. They Giants are a tested team that can play a high level of football. In the Bucs case, while it's not their fault, you can't really judge your team by playing the Falcons.

Why I think the Bucs can win. Like I had mentioned in my post regarding the Jags-Steelers game, it's scary when you go into a game with your X-Factor being you QB, in this case Eli Manning. If the Bucs can force Eli into turnovers they will have a better than great chance of winning.

Tennessee (10-6) at San Diego (11-5) - You have to love a game that matches up two teams that hate each other. The Chargers love to talk, and the Titans love to answer with prototypical smash mouth football.

Why I think San Diego can win. They have the best RB in football. They have the best TE in football. There front seven is dominant. That enough of a reason? Oh yeah, the Titans franchise Quarterback Vince Young might not play today.

Why I think the Titans can win. With all the great players that the Chargers have, you are only as strong as your weakest link, and their weak links are the QB and head coach Norv Turner who is 1-9 in playoff games. The Titans are well coached with Jeff Fisher, and they are always in the ball game. Fisher and his defense will try and find a way to make the Chargers QB Philip Rivers have to beat them, and in that vein, make big mistakes. Once again, it's scary when your teams X-Factor is the QB, as it is with the Chargers.

I'm rooting for the Titans here. As I mentioned, the Chargers talk too much. They dance and talk smack when they win. When they lose, they cry about the other team dancing and talking smack. Big babies. They don't deserve the $5,000 a night hookers they sleep with.