First…I’m all for throwback jerseys – some are really cool.  But this year we have been subjected to two terrible ones.  Detroit’s logo-less silver helmet with plain blue jerseys.  Seriously, Mattel Intellivision had better graphics. The other bad one is Pittsburgh’s yellow-helmet look.  Not a good one. Steel City gets high marks for using a hypocycloid on the helmet – now keep the classic black jersey and be done with it.

dishonorable mention?  Houston Texans with Red jerseys on Red pants.  They looked like popsicles.

If the NFL playoffs began today…

AFC : Tennessee and Pittsburgh get the bye, Denver hosts Baltimore and Jets host Colts.  Denver loses, Jets win at home (cos they can run the ball and possess).  That leaves Tennessee hosting Baltimore in what will be the first 3-0 playoff final score in decades and the Steelers beat the Jets at home.  Then Tennessee beats Pittsburgh 9-6 and goes to the Super Bowl.

NFC: Giants and Carolina get the bye, Minnesota hosts Dallas, Arizona hosts Tampa.  If I were the Cardinals I’d be afraid of this game. If Dallas shows up, they win, I trust Arizona just enough to win.  Then the Giants beat Dallas at home, Carolina beats Arizona at home but holding the ball for 40 minutes of game time and the Giants go to a second straight Super Bowl.

Giants can pass some, run some, Tennessee passes none, runs a lot. Take the Titans 20-14.

The first problem with that scenario?  Half those teams might not make it.  Carolina hosts Denver, then travels to the #1 Giants and to #1 in Offense New Orleans.  There’s a 10% chance the Panthers don’t win another game.  That would mean the winner of this week’s Tampa-Atlanta game wins the division.  Take the Bucs defense to emerge.  The only thing that helps the Panthers is a Giants victory to clinch the #1 seed and maybe they rest the starters and Carolina wins a meaningless-to-the-home-team game 30-10.

2nd problem?  If Baltimore loses to Pittsburgh this week that leaves it open for any of Jets-New England-Miami that doesn’t win the AFC East to become a wild card. Working for the Ravens is those teams have divisional games and will knock each other off.  Working against? Ravens follow the Steelers game at Dallas in a game that Dallas needs.

My guess is the AFC East winner is the Jets and they take the high seed over Denver which helps both of them.  The Jets are more likely to beat a running team like Baltimore than they are likely to beat the Colts and Denver is more likely to beat the Colts than the Ravens. Take the home teams throughout; Tennessee still sits Super.

In the NFC I believe Carolina will beat Denver and the Giants may lose at Dallas which leaves a tie for the #1 seed and the Panthers seem to be rolling.  If the Panthers win at the Giants they get home field throughout and as they are unbeaten at home…The playoffs would perhaps be Cardinals over Bucs, Cowboys over Vikings – Panthers over Cowboys, Giants over Cardinals, Panthers win the rematch.

Super Bowl of previous losing teams Titans and Panthers – take Tennessee’s defense for their first ever Super Bowl triumph 26-20.

So, yeah, that’s who I am picking right now.  Ask me again in 24 hours.

Obama taking over the Presidency is like whomever becomes the next General Manager of the Detroit Lions.

On the plus side, you inherit a winless team with dishearthened fans who will treat even the slightest improvement like Indiana Jones finding the Holy Grail – Starving fans who will drool for the White Castle you provide as if Wolfgang Puck himself conjured it.

On the minus, the team you get is in a tremendous pit – you have 20 holes to fill on the roster and only 7 draft picks and a few million in salary to stop the gaps. You know going into the first season that you cannot in any way cure every ill in less than 24 months and may not be able to cure some of those problems period.

On the plus side, the job is still a position of respect and power with an organization that, dating back, has a long history of success and pride despite recent failures.

On the minus side, if you pull a 2-14 in the first season you’ll catch heat for stuff that was broken long before you arrived.  It’s like moving into a frat house before the Pinto and Flounder’s breakage walk-thru.

On the plus side, you are given freedom to make whatever wholesale modifications are needed even if the team has never gone that direction in the past and there is no proof your moves will actual better the situation – because people want to trust the mystique of the New Guy.

On the minus, if you try wholesale changes and they rapidly turn south you’ll be the butt of late-night television jokes that mock the very characteristics that formerly were considered ‘endearing’, ‘quirky’ or ‘eccentric’.

It’s a good gig – if you can bring home even a marginal winner.  And if you cannot – it will bring you down faster than a sack of rocks in the river.