Century Mark

It's my 100th Blogger post! Celebrate good times, come on!

Al Gore: I will

To celebrate the occasion, here's a great article from the good folks at Progressive Boink about the top 100 moments in the history of 24. My personal favourite moments are 91, 84-82, 69, 64, 60, 56, 37, 35, 31, 20, 18 and basically the entire top fifteen. For the squeamish, be warned Though I can't believe they left off the climactic showdown at the end of season three, when Jack and the CTU team are in a showdown with Stephen Saunders and his terrorist buddies. When Saunders is running towards his waiting helicopter, he is employing one of the most upright running styles known to man. It was hilarious. Here was this guy literally running for his life from a heavily-armed counter-terrorist unit -- and he is doing his best imitation of a mannequin that has just come to life. And not even a cool mannequin, like Jeff from Today's Special.

The article includes YouTube clips of EVERY moment, so it's a great trip down memory lane for 24 fans. If you've never watched 24 before, I suggest skipping this rife-with-spoilers list and instead rent all five seasons on DVD and try to watch them all in a five-day marathon. You'll come out of it either acknowledging that 24 is the greatest show of all time, or you'll think you're some kind of a hummingbird. Anyway, here's the link: http://progressiveboink.com/archive/24100/1.html

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Ok, now onto the football picks. Remember how I joked last week that my cat Bailey was upset because none of the cat teams were in the playoffs and the three bird teams (Eagles, Seahawks, Ravens) and the scary lightning team (Chargers) were all still alive? Well, all four of those teams lost. Had my cat known how to play a Proline ticket, he would've cleaned up.

I also mentioned that my cat was rooting for the Colts because Manning is a pussy, and Bailey triumphed again as Indy advanced. So do I continue my cat's winning streak this week?

Well, why not.

COLTS over Patriots
Now, this is somewhat of a bet-hedging pick. I will be 100 per cent cheering for New England on Sunday, so if the Pats win, I'll still be satisfied. Bill Simmons had a big column this week about how the Patriots are still a likable team in spite of their dominance over the last few seasons, and I tend to agree. I have no beef with New England. I'm not tired of them yet, and it's not like they'll be playing Green Bay in the Super Bowl anytime soon, so no personal animus will develop.

The Colts, on the other hand, I can't stand. I'm becoming more and more convinced, however, that this is some kind of a magic year for them. Though Manning is doing his usual playoff fade, the defense has been fantastic thus far. It's too bad that the storyline for the Colts has still been all about Peyton, when the real team MVP is clearly safety Bob Sanders, with honourable mention going to Vinatieri. Sanders has become the defensive quarterback, much in the way that guys like Harrison or Bruschi have led the Pats D in recent years.

So as much as it galls me to do so, I'll take the Colts. They're near-impossible to beat at home, they seem to have fewer holes than New England, and perhaps they're headed for a Super Bowl appearance just to give Princess Peyton a chance to fail on the grandest stage of all.


BEARS over Saints
You can't help but root for the Saints, and they match up really well with Chicago. That said, I think Chicago's homefield advantage will give them the edge, especially since the weather will be crappy in Chi-town on Sunday. This game will be very, very tight -- we could easily see both games this weekend be decided by a field goal or less.

By the way, Deuce McAllister has gotten shockingly little credit for New Orleans' resurgence this season. Everywhere you turn, you hear about how the Saints were revived by Payton's great coaching, Brees at quarterback and Bush as a scary option/decoy in the backfield. All of this is true, but maybe it's more due to the Pro Bowl back coming back from an injury and returning to his past dominant form? It's funny that Bush gets credit for being a decoy and Payton gets the credit for coming up with the ways to use both backs, but there has been little said about McAllister actually being the hammer behind the New Orleans attack.

I'm picking the Bears but rooting for the Saints. For some reason I think that New Orleans will give either NE or Indy a game in the Super Bowl, but if the Bears make it, they'll get smoked like a Cuban cigar. While it might be poetic justice for the Pats to blow out the Bears as payback for Super Bowl XX, I don't want to see Manning coast. Plus, U2 didn't record any tribute songs about the Bears this season, so New Orleans have them beaten in that respect as well.

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Mark's playlist today...

American Girls, Counting Crows
Rain King, Counting Crows
Pachelbel Canon
I'm a Boy, the Who
Deep in the Heart, U2
Same Old Thing, the Streets
The Word, the Beatles
Burn Away, Foo Fighters
The Ballad of Danny Bailey, Elton John
Talk, Coldplay
Penny Lane, the Beatles
Thank You For the Music, ABBA
Jumble Jumble, the White Stripes
Fixing a Hole, the Beatles
The Promise, Bruce Springsteen