Bear Down, It's Playoff Time!

I will freely admit that I am surprised with my Chicago Bears' performance this season.  At the beginning of the season, I had them picked to win only 5 or 6 games.  They've surprised me and won twice that AND secured the second seed in the NFC playoffs, which comes with a coveted bye week .  This means that while the Eagles play the Packers and the Seahawks host the Saints, the Bears (and the Falcons) get to take an extra week to heal and prepare for their first playoff game.

This season has been a very odd one and I give Lovie Smith a lot of credit for what he's done.  They've gotten better every week of the season.  He's not an exciting coach, but he deserves kudos for what he's accomplished.  He already deserves coach of the year, and will deserve it more so if the Bears make any noise in the playoffs.  He's given me reason to be a cautious optimist.

It is with such cautious optimism that I approach the NFL playoffs.  I want the Bears to win the Super Bowl and I think that they can do it.  The only problem is I also believe they have the ability to get blown out at home against the likes of the Saints or the Eagles.  So, Bear Down, Chicago Bears and give your fans reason to drop the caution and become carefree optimists!  Take us to the Super Bowl and win it!

Super Bowl on BBC

So yesterday I was prepared to go down to The Woolshed Baa & Grill to watch the Super Bowl. Trouble is that everyone of the people that was going to go with me backed out. To be honest, nothing made me happier. I really wasn't in the mood to go down to the City Centre (yeah - that's the proper English spelling) and stay out until 3am just to watch the Super Bowl.

The funniest response was from the Brit that was out with me for rugby on Saturday. His response: "Might give the super bowl a miss tonight - have felt better."

I was feeling a little guilty about sticking him with the bill, so I emailed him back: "I just wanted to check. Do I owe you any money for Shanahan's? I'd hate to have had somebody else pick up the bill for an expensive steak with 1 bite taken out of it. Good time on Saturday, sorry I had to leave the party early. "

Being cool, he responded: "Hi Steve – don’t worry about it! If you fancied going again, let me know. Hopefully we can turn up in a state where we get to enjoy it!"

I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't get to truly enjoy the steaks.

So what did I do for the Super Bowl? I watched it from my bed in my hotel room. Great game to watch. However, I thought that I'd share the one big difference in watching the Super Bowl on the BBC as opposed to CBS:

No commercials - seriously, everytime CBS cut away to a commercial the BBC cut back to the studio for analysis. One of the guest commentators was San Francisco QB, Alex Smith, who was promoting the San Fran - Denver game at Wembley Stadium next season.

Just to let you know that the British commentators are just as likely to curse the players on the field as American commentators. Prior to the Manning throwing the pick-6, the studio host noted how mistake-free the game had been.

A different experience, but it would have been fun to head down to The Woolshed.

Super Bowl Weekend

So, it's Super Bowl weekend here in Dublin and frankly the city just doesn't give a damn. It's enlightening to find out how little the rest of the world cares about American sports. If you could picture how much we care about soccer, you'd have an inkling into how little the Irish care about the Super Bowl. Yes, there are fans, but there's barely even a realization that the Super Bowl is going on this weekend.

So what do a handful of American expatriates do for the Super Bowl when we're in Ireland? We're planning to go to an Australian pub called the Woolshed Baa & Grill. That's not a typo; follow the link. It's got everything a good American needs at a Super Bowl party: Full Game Shown, Food Served 'Til Late, Free Entry.

Food Served 'Til Late? Just how late does food need to be served? I'm guessing food needs to be served until at least 3am - after all the game doesn't kickoff until 11:30pm over here.

Perhaps the halftime show will garner some interest over here. After all, The Who are headlining.

Nah, I doubt it.

The big events over here this weekend surround The Six Nations Championship. That would be rugby, my friends. Six Nations is a huge tournament where Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy compete to flaunt their rugby dominance. France is the odds-on favorite to win the championship, even though Ireland won the Grand Slam last year (i.e. went undefeated in the round-robin tournament). France is at 3/2 to win the whole thing and Ireland is at 9/4. The next highest odds go to England at 5/1. As you can see, it looks like a two horse match between France and Ireland.

Today Ireland has 1/33 odds to win the home match over Italy. Yes, that means you bet $33 and if Ireland wins, you get your $33 back plus $1 to boot. Enticing, eh? Perhaps a bet on Italy at 25/1 might be a better value bet . . . or bet the draw at 50/1.

This weekend: Ireland vs. Italy; England vs. Wales; Scotland vs. France.