Monday Night Football...

RECAP: Arizona Cardinals (29) vs. San Francisco 49ers (24).

This is gonna be kinda fuzzy because I was at work and couldn't really pay attention.

Cardinals was trailing the 49ers for most of the game especially because in the 3rd quarter they got penalized twice in a row for a total of 20 yards. One was for a pass interference ( I think...) and one for a false start. The false start really pissed me off because I was rooting for the Cardinals and they managed to score what would have been a touchdown had they not gotten the flag. I was beginning to think the refs were biased but in the 4th quarter they penalized the 49ers a couple times too...Anyhoo...

In the 4th, the Cardinals scored a touchdown (on an interception) that brought the score in their favor 29-24. The ending was a real nail biter because the 49ers got the ball and managed to get within 2 yards of a touchdown with 20 seconds left in the game that would have put them 1 point ahead, but due to a play review in the last 10 seconds (one of the Cardinals defense touched the 49ers receiver and almost brought him down but he managed to crawl/hurl himself over the goal line), they came down to 3rd and 2 with 4 seconds left. I honestly thought they were gonna make the touchdown but the Cardinals defense held them back just as the clock ran out. WHEW!

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So apparently I have this uncanny ability to pick the winners at football games. Out of the 9 games I've watched in a row (yes this includes NFL and Division I College), I've picked the winners in 6 of them.

I thought I would spread the knowledge on how to pick the winning team. So far my non-specific know-how has served me well in my budding football fan life. Since I'm not interested in stats and whose players are better than whose (and neither is most girls) I've developed my own rules:

1) Pick the team with the coolest looking uniform.

For example if I had to pick between say the San Diego Chargers and the Chicago Bears, I would pick the Chargers because I like the light blue and don't like the orange (even though the little lightning bolts on the helmets are kinda weird). However if I had to pick between the Chargers and the Buffalo Bills, I would pick the Bills because I like the red and blue (very American colors). Now I always pick the New Orleans Saints when I see them play regardless of the colors of their uniform because they are the only team I know of (so far) with the flower on their helmet! Oh and I also pick the Tennessee Titans not only because of the cool colors but because as far as I know they are still undefeated. Now I don't always pick the same teams because as you all know, the colors for home games vs. away games differ (sometimes very significantly).

I know if you're a die hard football fan you must be going crazy how I jump from team to team but oh well...I don't really care. Let's keep going shall we?

2) When in doubt, pick the team with the cuter quarterback.

For example, tonight's Arizona Cardinals vs. San Francisco 49ers game...both teams had pretty cool looking uniforms so I thought it would be hard to pick based on my #1 rule. So I looked up the team profiles and saw that the Cardinals quarterback (Kurt Warner, although Leinhart is pretty cute too but he wasn't playing tonight) was cuter than the 49ers quarterback (Shaun Hill). Some of the teams I've rooted for that have good looking quarterbacks that have won (at least when I was watching the games...I don't count if they lose at a game I didn't see): Texas Tech, Texas State (although if I had to pick between the two teams like when they played each other a couple weeks ago, I always go with Texas Tech because Tex State has the orange in their uniforms...you see how this works?), and Florida State. In the case of Florida State, I actually picked them not only for the quarterback but because they were playing against Clemson when I watched and Clemson had orange and purple uniforms! I don't think it's a coincidence that FSU wiped the field with Clemson 41 to 27.

*breath* Moving on!

3) When all else fails (or when Loyalty demands it), pick the home team or the team who has one of my family members living in that city.

Yes, this includes home teams (have I mentioned I live in Seattle and I went to UW?? oh the pain!)...Out of the 3 games I watched that I picked the loser: UW Huskies vs. AZ State, Seattle Seahawks vs. Miami Dolphins (but the Hawks were damn CLOSE!!!! 19 to 21...if only they didn't f**k up that last 2pt. conversion), and Oregon State vs Arizona State (bet against the damn orange uniform again). The Huskies (and Seahawks) aren't doing so well this season. Last I saw, they haven't even won yet. But what can I say, I am a Husky Alum and had to pick them. I do want to include however that by mid 3rd quarter and they were well on their way to an 11th STRAIGHT LOSS against AZ, I changed the channel.

Let's apply my rules to next week's game: Buffalo Bills vs. Cleveland Browns.

Rule 1: Bills = Red and Blue; Bears = Orange and Black ---> Bills!

Rule 2 (even though I don't know who is playing, I'm picking the best looking QBs in their respective rosters): Bills QB = Trent Edwards; Browns = Brady Quinn. Ok, so I admit Quinn is better looking. But chances are he won't be the starting quarterback anyway, and as you will probably agree, Edwards is a lot better looking than Derek Anderson or Ken Dorsey. Plus Edwards has started in the last 4 games. This one goes to the ---> Bills!

Rule 3: Buffalo Bills = Buffalo, NY. Cleveland Browns = Cleveland, Ohio. I only have family in New York so --->Bills!

I'm rooting for the Bills.

For all you die hard football peoples out there, some stats: Apparently if you stand the Brown's offense and the Bills defense, the Browns have the definite advantage with a DVOA score of +2.5 over the Bills...however, the Bills' offense has really stepped up in the last few games so they have a slight advantage when given the ball. I've also seen that when it comes to win average, the Bills are at 5-4 with 3L straight (regular season) and the Browns are at 3-6 with 2L straight.

Hrmm....I guess we will just have to see huh?