Football Week 19: Division.

       The divisional playoff weekend is usually your best in terms of quality and quantity of postseason football, or so goes the old cliche.  I usually don't buy into conventional wisdom, but damn, those games on Saturday were pretty spectacular.  I have been getting over the death flu that has been going around, plus I have been very busy actually working like a grown up, so I was riveted to my couch all Saturday.  No one saw the Ravens going into Denver and winning and the 49ers rode their rookie quarterback, literally, to victory.  After watching in person what Colin Kaepernick was capable of doing to a team, I was not too shocked to see what he did to the Packers.

Today we have a couple of games that will go a long way to determining a few legacies.

I lived in Boston for 12+ years and while I fell in love with the Red Sox, I never did get around to falling for the New England Patriots.  Oh sure, I paid attention to the team while I was there, but I never jumped on the bandwagon.  I had many friends who were Tom Brady lunatics and I rooted for them in all three of their Super Bowl wins.  I did not, however, root for them in their two loses to the Giants.  I think for Tom Brady to cement his legacy as one of the top 5 all time great quarterbacks, he has to win the big one one more time, and I think this year might be his last shot.

The other team with something to prove today is the Atlanta Falcons.  They have been a no show in the playoffs in their last 4 trips, and if they don't win today as the #1 seed, they might never.

Oh, one more thing, I scanned this page a while ago:

What the hell was I thinking?  No, really.  I cannot for the life of me figure out what the connection is that any of these players has with anyone else.  This is not a contest or anything, I would just really like to know.  If anyone can figure out what I was thinking, please tell me in the comments.

Payback?

I wake up from my vacation this morning (OK, more like sober up) and I find that Ichiro is a GD Yankee?!?

A few thoughts went through my head.  First and foremost is, did they trade Ichiro to the Bronx for the proverbial two bags of balls as repayment for sending them the shredded arm of Michael Pineda?  Seems likely...

...secondly, they gave him #31 instead of his customary #51, does this mean they intend to retire the aforementioned #51 for Bernie Williams?  Does Bernie Williams merit having his number up on the wall with the likes of Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig and DiMaggio?  Or even Mattingly, Howard, and Guidry?  And lastly, during the press conference, Ichiro used a translator.  He has been in America for 11+ years now, why does he still need a translator?  I have seen him privately interviewed and he speaks English pretty well.  Man, I am out of it for a little while and the whole world goes mad.

What's a cheap (under $5) cool card you feel every collector should add to their collection?

       This question was recently posed by The Chronicles of Fuji.  I have seen it answered by a few blogs so I am gonna throw my answer hat into the ring (and horribly mix my metaphors).  I am a little torn whether to answer this with a favorite (selfishly) or with a universal truth kind of card (selflessly).  In an odd display for me, I will go with the latter and be selfless.

Obviously, I have also gone a bit vulgar.  This card needs no introduction.  It should be in every collection in one form or another.  I prefer the original naughty error version, but for the more demure of you, there is no end to the "corrected" variations.  I am lucky enough to have pulled one before the frenzy back in 1989, but since this card is from the height of the overproduced junk wax era, even this "rare" card is probably out there in the tens of thousands.  Some thought they might put their kids through college with one back in the day...these days, you can snag one off eBay for about $5.