Centerfield

Okay Keegan, you said if they beat the Colt's we'll talk.

13-2, homefield advantage baby! They are going through Seattle to get to the Super Bowl, and it is cold, wet, and miserable as hell here lately.

Go Seahawks!

Posted by: Mathew at December 30, 2005 12:16 PM

Getting to the Super Bowl will be no great accomplishment for an NFC team. The AFC playoffs will be a trial by fire in comparison to the NFC playoffs. The winner of the NFC will be a sacrifice to the Gridiron Gods.

Posted by: WHQ at December 30, 2005 01:28 PM

The Broncos will go to the AFC championship, where Jake Plummer will prove that he's just as good as the young Elway was at choking in the clutch.

Posted by: Tully at December 30, 2005 01:56 PM

Looks like oil prices are going to start heading up again.

Having actually used the strategic petroleum reserve (and some of Europe's SPR) may have spooked china into accelerating the creation of their own. Not to mention having to refill and repay what we already used.

Posted by: Bob J Young at December 30, 2005 02:09 PM

YES!! Oil hoarding is on the rise. Tully's anti-apocalyptic prediction is already in jeopardy. In your face, optimist!

Posted by: WHQ at December 30, 2005 02:44 PM

The Broncos will go to the AFC championship, where Jake Plummer will prove that he's just as good as the young Elway was at choking in the clutch.

Tully, Tully, Tully, where's your faith. Besides Elway always made it past the AFC championship. He usually choked in the Super Bowl.

Frankly, if Jake can avoid any interceptions and the Bronco's can establish their running game in each game then watch out!!!

Matthew,
I thought miserable weather for the playoffs meant cold and SNOW!

Posted by: c3 at December 30, 2005 02:44 PM

I'm sure the Giants and the Bears will really be afraid of the "cold" Seattle rain.

Posted by: WHQ at December 30, 2005 04:16 PM

Oooo, thanks for reminding me, WHQ!

Dear Bob, in 2004 during the elections you made a bet with me. The bet was that in 2005 the dollar would tank against the ascendant Euro due to our trade deficit and rising oil prices. (There was also a lotta side stuff about how the currency crash would bring on US recession, etc, but that was the specific bet.)

The Dow's pretty much exactly where it was a year ago today, the S&P and NASDAQ are both up a fair bit, GDP growth is running at 4%-plus, productivity growth is hitting new highs, unemployment is at near-record lows, and the dollar is up over 12% against the Yen and over 15% against the Euro....

You are hereby instructed to take the money you have lost on our wager and either [a] donate it to a decent non-partisan charity, or [b] or, if you've already done your citizenly good deeds for the year, blow it on having a good time. Knowing you're giving away and/or blowing MY money should make it easier for you. :-)

(And I want to thank the pessimists in the currency options markets for helping make 2005 a bit brighter year for the Tully household.)

Posted by: Tully at December 30, 2005 04:53 PM

I don't see the Giants getting out of the first round to have to worry about the Seattle weather. I also don't see Denver making to the AFC Championship, unless they get to play Jacksonville in the Divisional. The face I'm most interested in seeing is the Peyton Manning "I can't believe I lost to the Patriots again" face. That one always makes me smile.

Posted by: Scotch Drinker at December 30, 2005 05:08 PM

c3 and WHQ,

Cold midwestern/eastern air and snow, wet and rainy Seattle... Not the same thing. Cold is one thing, wet and slippery is another. I have lived in both places, trust me. There is a reason that the Seahawks are undefeated at Qwest Field.

I don't fear Eli Manning, the Giants have looked horrible recently... I am a little nervous about da' Bears and the Redskins; however, Seattle won't give up nearly as many third and longs at home as it did in D.C. and they only have to score 17 to beat Chicago. Not exactly a mountain to climb for the number one rated offense in the NFL.

Tully,

Thou shall not be critical of the great John Elway... A Washington State native who won two Super Bowls, I might add. BTW, does anybody remember what quarterback has had more come from behind victories in the last two minutes of the game? Choked in the clutch, my ass.

Mr. Plummer, I knew John Elway, he was a friend of mind. Mr. Plummer, you are no John Elway.

Posted by: Mathew at December 30, 2005 05:30 PM

Tully: I hadn't forgotten. Although I remembered it more as being about whether we would have a recession due to high oil prices. I was waiting for the 4th quarter GDP numbers before publicly capitulating, in the vain hope my chestnuts would get pulled out of the fire.

You will be happy to know that your winnings went to adopting two disadvantaged 4 year old boys for Christmas.

You bought each of them: two pairs of pants, a dress shirt, sneakers, socks, a spiderman atv toy, a leapfrog learning tool and books, a humongous box of crayons, 6 coloring books, two hand puppets, a giant tonka truck, drawing paper and batteries.

Posted by: Bob J Young at December 30, 2005 05:43 PM

Wow, Bob, for the small amount of money wagered you sure got a lot of mileage! Got an address for helping that cause along? I'd be willing to pay off even from the win for that.

LOL, Mathew. I lived in Denver for the first years of the Elway "presence," and knew several of the players. I joke about his choking (want me to name ALL the Super Bowl routs?) but to be honest the choking both regular and post-season seemed to disappear when Dan Reeves left and Shanahan took over. I never saw Shanahan call for punting on 4th down when they were down by 5 with under a minute left. Not when Elway was healthy, I didn't.

Reeves insisted on calling the shots when he had an Elway to work with, which was stupid. Shanahan worked on getting that offensive line built up to protect Elway, then let Elway call his own shots, which was smart. When that offensive line retired en masse, so did Elway. Smart boy. He was getting too old to scramble alla time, so he walked away while he still had knees to walk with.

The Chargers will pick at the Broncos secondary with Antonio Gates and the short pass to take advantage of Bronco secondary injuries, and they've gotta heck of a rush defense. They're weak in the safety slots, but Plummer and the long ball aren't the best of friends. Plummer has a tough row to hoe. He's decent, but no Elway (who is?). Not that this game matters (to the Broncos) as long as they don't get too many players hurt.

Posted by: Tully at December 30, 2005 07:11 PM

Tully: The program is through Southside Baptist Church in Huntsville Alabama. They select local families, gather the appropriate information then provide a book of families available for adoption. A friend of mine goes to the church and provided my atheist self with access to the program. She did the mothers list and delivered the presents, your money went to the boys.

We will probably do the same family again next year. So I guess we should make another bet.

Posted by: Bob J Young at December 30, 2005 07:34 PM

Since the topic umbrella here seems to be optimism/pessimism..I'll recommend the book I just finished:

It's called Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz. I don't read copious amounts of fiction...but that one is all about optimism and pessimism.

Plus its a good read.

Posted by: carla at December 30, 2005 08:42 PM

Dean Koontz is a much underestimated writer, because he writes easily accessible popular genre fiction. He's quite capable of "deep lit," but prefers to make massive piles of money and reach a much larger audience. Kudos to him.

Locked and tagged, Bob.

Posted by: Tully at December 31, 2005 10:55 AM

Reminds me of Neil Gaiman's quip when he heard that two would be writers were convicted of plagerizing one of Dean Koontz's books; "What an odd thing to plagerize."

Ouch.

Speaking of horror, don't worry when your kids find creative uses for Barbie....

Posted by: Blue Jean at December 31, 2005 01:50 PM

I've got enough respect for Shanahan that I'm a little surprised the Broncs aren't better these days. Maybe he has enough trips to the Big One that there isn't much of a fire in him to spend lots of time recruiting?

Though at least he let Grease slip.

Posted by: Jon Kay at December 31, 2005 03:15 PM