AFC Wild Card

Indianapolis Colts 30, San Diego Chargers 27
Baltimore Ravens 16, Miami Dolphins 7

AFC Divisional Playoffs

Indianapolis Colts 24, Pittsburgh Steelers 17
Tennessee Titans 14, Baltimore Ravens 13

AFC Champtionship

Indianapolis Colts 28, Tennessee Titans 17

NFC Wild Card

Atlanta Falcons 31, Arizona Cardinals 24
Minnesota Vikings 23, Philadelphia Eagles 20 (OT)

NFC Divisional Playoffs

Atlanta Falcons 17, Carolina Panthers 13
New York Giants 35, Minnesota Vikings 10

NFC Champtionship

New York Giants 31, Atlanta Falcons 20

Super Bowl XLIII

New York Giants 28, Indianapolis Colts 27
MVP: It should be Justin Tuck, but they’ll give it to Eli.

• My sister Karen is engaged! Congrats! Her and Keith are just now beginning to learn the joys of wedding planning. Good luck deciding who’s not worthy of an invitation. Is a wedding website in the works?

• A press release from the Office of Bryan T. Pojanowski: “I am pleased and honored to announce that in the state-wide election of April 22, 2008, I was elected as a member of Allentown’s 17th Ward, 1st district to the Republican County Committee. It was a landside victory where I garnered 100% of the vote. I’d like to thank my wife, Emily, for providing the one vote that propelled me to victory! I look forward to your future support.” Reliable sources say he’s got his eye on Arlen Specter’s Senate seat. I’ll be sure to get a better photo for the next update. I want to see him on Hardball as a surrogate for John McCain.

• The Cleveland Indians will win the 2008 World Series.

• Outside of the news on Senator Pojanowski, I know no one is reading this blog for political commentary. (No one is reading at all, really.) But I think the low moment of the Presidential campaign was this question Obama was asked by George Stephanopoulos: “Do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?” So awful. One political prediction—Hillary will not be his VP.

• You may have noticed that things look a little different around here. I like this font and I like the color blue. Plus I was never sure what that picture at the top of the old design was all about. One negative—the Blogroll has disappeared. One of these days, I’ll look into that.

• After one month on Weight Watchers, I’ve lost 9.4 pounds (down to 189.6). Still a long way from my target of 175, but it’s good to be back in the 180s.

• The New Orleans Hornets will win the 2008 NBA Championship. (Guess I’m a little late posting this one.

We are thoroughly enjoying the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet right now. In fact, we’re playing along at home. Before I get to a prediction (Super Bowl, not Puppy), here are some action shots…

As for today’s other big game, the Giants have no business winning. If they lost 56-17, I would not be surprised. But being right about a Patriots blowout is unimpressive and, as a Giants fan, downright depressing. So I’ve talked myself into believing the G-Men have a chance. I see a breakout game from improbable MVP Ahmad Bradshaw — 175 yards and two TDs. I also envision several lucky breaks on defense, an efficient if unremarkable game from Eli, stellar special teams play, and an upset for the ages:

Giants 24, Patriots 23

Keep in mind, my original Super Bowl pick was Saints 20, Broncos 17. Enjoy the game.

My ill-informed, crazy Iowa Caucus predictions:

• Obama wins by a whole lot more than people expect
• Romney sneaks by Huckabee, but the story tomorrow is McCain’s surprising showing

Kickoff is minutes away. I’d better make my final four pics.

Last year, I did pretty well, predicting three of the four teams, the Colts’ four-point margin of victory in the AFC title game, and the eventual Super Bowl champ and MVP.

This year, everyone’s picking the Pats, Colts or Chargers. I think the Colts will regress to about 10-6. The Pats and Chargers look great, but it’s no fun picking the favorites. So I’ll go out on my own here.

AFC Championship Game
Denver 27
Baltimore 9

NFC Championship Game
New Orleans 38
St. Louis 10

Super Bowl XLII
New Orleans 20
Denver 17
Super Bowl MVP: Reggie Bush

My St. Louis pick is wishful thinking. My fantasy fortunes are tied up with Marc Bulger and Steven Jackson. I’m expecting a long year for the Giants – 8-8 at best, with plenty of off-the-field nonsense and five months of “We Want Cowher” chants in the Meadowlands.

Guess it’s time to see how my Saints look. If anyone wants to leave their picks in the comments section, please do so. Come January we’ll share in knowing how clueless we were.

Let me make a crazy prediction. In tonight’s NBA Draft Lottery, the ping pong balls will fall the way of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Philadelphia 76ers will happily take the second pick.

Statistically, this is very unlikely.

But it’s just a hunch. I’d like to see a Garnett/Oden pairing revitalize basketball in Minneapolis, and whoever gets Durant should be fun to watch. If I’m wrong, I’ll probably just delete this post.

[UPDATE (9:10pm): So much for hunches. I'm happy for both Portland and Seattle. I have a nonsensical admiration for the Pacific Northwest despite never being within 400 miles of the region.]

I’m pretty impressed with my September 9th prediction that Indianapolis would defeat New England by four points to win the AFC Championship. Sure, my score was off – I had 31-27; the actual score was 38-34 – but who could have predicted those two offensive linemen touchdowns? (I did see the Dan Klecko TD coming.)

In other news, I have two mental_floss entries today. One on the Grammy-nominated Super Bowl Shuffle, and one on deadly but memorable Action Park.

That’s all I have to say right now.

Back on September 9th, I made a few crazy predictions about the upcoming NFL season. Let us review, in parentheses and italics.

Teams that will be worse than everybody thinks:
Carolina (I was correct. A fashionable Super Bowl pick, the Panthers struggled to finish at 8-8.)
Philadelphia (Things were looking good for me until Jeff Garcia came off the bench and saved the season. The 10-6 Eagles won their division and a playoff game.)
Seattle (While they limped into the playoffs, the Seahawks were not the elite team many expected, even in the weak NFC.)
Miami (Sucked as predicted. 6-10.)

Teams that will be better than everybody thinks:
Tampa Bay (This section hurts my psychic credibility. Tampa Bay was 4-12.)
Detroit (Terrible, terrible team. Terrible, terrible pick. 3-13.)
Buffalo (We’ll call this a push at 7-9.)
Cleveland (I’ve been predicting big things for the Browns for years. Another disappointing 4-12 season.)

Conference Championship Games:
AFC: Indianapolis 31, New England 27
NFC: Dallas 20, Chicago 10

(Not bad, picking three of the final four. If my office had held an NFL pool, I’d still be in contention.)

Super Bowl XLI
Indianapolis 38, Dallas 13
Super Bowl MVP: Peyton Manning

As for tomorrow, I’ll stick with my original conference championship game picks. The Colts win and the Bears lose, setting up an Indianapolis-New Orleans Super Bowl.

This wasn’t easy. I’m torn between Brady and Manning. As a Yankees fan, I like dynasties. The Patriots are the only one we’ve got right now, unless the Spurs manage to win another title. But I also like to see the perennial loser slide on the ring, a role Manning has perfected. Even though he seems like he’d keep his own stats in pick-up basketball – and be happy out-rebounding you in a loss – he has my support.

Colts 31, Pats 27
Saints 20, Bears 17

Before the season started, I picked a Colts/Cowboys Super Bowl, with the Bears and Patriots rounding out the final four.

I made some other crazy predictions, which we’ll discuss another time. But let me get these in under the wire.

Colts 24, Ravens 20
Bears 20, Seahawks 10
Chargers 31, Patriots 17
Saints 34, Eagles 28

I’m holding out hope that Peyton can pull it together, despite all the evidence to the contrary.  And I have a feeling the Pats’ obvious coaching and quarterback advantages just can’t stop the Chargers. Enjoy the games.

Note: I am not a Mets fan.

Update (11:44pm): Yes.