Bears-Packers Should Never Be Played In Week 17

November 18, 2006. The Ohio State Buckeyes, ranked number one in the nation, host the number two Michigan Wolverines in the last game of the college football season. Each team enters the game with a perfect 11-0 record. What's at stake is simple: winner plays for the National Championship, and the loser accepts a trip to the Rose Bowl.
Ohio State comes out firing, leading Michigan 28-14 at halftime. Michigan would bounce back in the second half, outscoring Ohio State by eleven points. It wouldn't be enough however, as Ohio State secured a three point victory and went on lose to Florida in the 2007 BCS Championship Game.
This would have been a classic game regardless, but its importance was heightened because of the historical Ohio State-Michigan rivalry. An integral part of this rivalry is the timing -- they play each other the last game of the season every year. This game was dubbed "Game of the Century" for a reason, this match-up never carries the type of implications it did in 2006. A rivalry game played the last game of the season is great when it works out to perfection like it did in 2006. The problem of course, is that it rarely works out that way.
Now consider the Bears-Packers rivalry, the NFL equivalent to Ohio-State Michigan. This Sunday will mark the third time in the last ten years that the NFL rivals have squared off in the last game of the season.
I have just one simple request: don't play this game game in Week 17, ever again.
The last time the Bears and Packers played in Week 17 of the season was in 2006. The Bears were 13-2, had already clinched the number one seed in the NFC playoffs and played their back-ups the majority of the game. The Packers were 7-8, had already been eliminated from playoff contention, and were basically playing for pride. The Packers went on to win 26-7, and the Bears went on to the Super Bowl.
Two years earlier, the Bears and Packers also met in the last game of the season. The Bears' season was already over, as they were 5-10 coming into the game. The Packers were 9-6 and needed the win to hold off the Vikings for the NFC North crown. Not surprisingly, the Packers won in convincing fashion to advance to the playoffs.
The common denominator is that the 2004 and 2006 games didn't decide the fate of both teams. In that respect, the timing of the game was a failure.
Now let's jump to this year's offering, which could possibly mean much more than the previous two meetings. The playoff scenario is simple for the Packers: win and they're in. If they lose, they'll need both the Giants and Bucs to lose to get in.
The Bears' priorities are a little more tricky. They've already clinched at least the second seed in the NFC and a first round bye. There's a slim possibility that they still could secure the top seed. In order for that to happen, the Bears need to win and the Falcons need to lose at home to the 2-13 Carolina Panthers. A Falcons loss is not very likely, especially considering they could drop to the fifth seed if the Saints win at home against Tampa Bay.
Fortunately for the Bears, they'll know where they stand come game time. The Falcons play at 12:00 CT and the Bears game was moved to 3:15 CT. By the time the Bears kickoff, they will know whether it's possible to grab the one seed. If they can't, it's unclear how the Bears will plan on playing this game.
Lovie Smith and his players are saying all the right things:
"We can clinch home field advantage through out the playoffs."
"We have a chance to be the first undefeated team within the division."
"We want to be the one's to end our rival's season." 
It all sounds good, but what if the Bears are already locked into the two seed? Is "ending our rival's season" really a strong enough motivation to risk a key injury in a meaningless game? I would say no.
This is exactly why the second game of this rivalry should never be played on the last week of the season -- to avoid situations where it isn't beneficial for one of the teams to play their starters the entire game. Imagine if this game was played last week, or two weeks ago. Both teams would have everything in the world to play for and football fans could enjoy the best rivalry in the NFL the way it's meant to be played.
As it stands, the Bears will likely play their starters sparingly, if at all. This could have been avoided. Rivalries like the Bears-Packers are spirited regardless of which players are playing, but deserve the best players on the field. The NFL schedule-makers can't hope for a miracle like 2006 Ohio State-Michigan. They need to play it safe and make sure the last game is always played before Week 17.

Panini's For Everyone, Part II

This is Part II of the pack of 2010-11 Panini Threads I opened. Here's Part I, and the football 2010 Panini Classics Pack.

#31 Jason Terry. Terry has been a really solid player his entire career. Unfortunately, I think he's going to be one of those players whose career gets overlooked.

#13 Steve Nash. I could look up a bunch of stats to prove how good Nash is, but I think Gasol's face says it all.

#5 Josh Smith. Smith tops my "Much Better Fantasy Than Real Player" NBA list. Adam Dunn and Tony Romo sit atop the MLB and NFL lists.

#34 Devin Harris. I feel the reason I like Harris so much is because he went to Wisconsin -- probably not a very good reason at all. But if he could just stay healthy and the Nets could add an offensive focal point (Carmelo), I would expect Harris to thrive like he did in Dallas.

#2 Mo Williams. I'm sorry, but the only thing I notice about this card is there's no LeBron.

All in all, this was a pretty good pack. I pulled some personal favorites of mine (Harris and Deng), and a couple of players I really enjoy watching (Ellis and Nash). Add in the Gasol die-cut jersey, and this was three bucks well spent.

Panini's For Everyone, Part I

In addition to the 2010 Panini Classics football pack I opened, I decided to pick up its basketball counterpart -- a pack of 2010-11 Panini Threads. Randomly inserted are rookie autographed cards with a swatch of a game worn jersey. Yeah, I was hoping for one of those.
Again, visit the blog A Pack To Be Named Later where I lifted the idea from. They've opened hundreds of packs across sports and years that will keep you entertained for hours.

#9 Luol Deng. It's nice to get a Bulls player. I suppose I can add this to the collection and look back fondly in 20 years, even if Deng hasn't lived up to his contract.

#15 Vince Carter. Hey, there's an All-Star on this card! It's just not Vince Carter.

#8 Monta Ellis. I have nothing bad to say about Monta. I just wish he didn't play on the West Coast so I could see him play more often.

#10 Samuel Dalembert. Dalembert is referred to as "The Haitian Eraser" on the back of the card. Why has this nickname not caught on? This would catapult to top 5 NBA nicknames, easily.

#16 Pau Gasol Die-Cut Jersey Insert. This was the only insert I received in either of the two packs. It's cut in the shape of Gasol's jersey, put doesn't actually contain any game used jersey. Eh, I guess it looks kind of cool.

Opening Of The Flood Gates

I recently stumbled upon what I have tentatively dubbed, "The Best Blog Ever." It's called A Pack To Be Named Later and makes me wish I was creative enough to come up with a concept like this. The premise of the blog is simple. A bunch of guys buy some random packs of sports cards, open them, and then post the cards that were in the pack.
They never repeat the same pack, and even have an icon at the bottom to allow their readers to judge each pack's merit. I love the idea. Anyone who collected cards as a child can relate to the suspense associated with opening a pack, unaware of what's inside.
I decided to "borrow" their idea for a few posts, mostly because I wanted an excuse to buy some cards for the first time in about ten years. Be sure to visit their blog, linked above. It's strangely addictive.
I decided on a pack of football 2010 Panini Classics. I had never heard of Panini so I thought at first it may not be a legitimate company. However, they did advertise the possibility of pulling a game worn jersey or autographed card, and that sounded legitimate enough to me. The reason why I didn't recognize Panini was because they didn't start manufacturing NBA trading cards until January of 2009, and acquired Donruss' license to manufacture NFL cards two months later. I felt better about the fact that I recognized the Donruss brand. Without further ado...

#27 Ray Rice. The pack started off on a high note and went downhill quickly. Kind of like the Cowboys every year.

#17 Braylon Edwards. This is one of those rare instances where Edwards actually caught the ball, although it does appear to be coming out.

#28 Felix Jones. We've all seen those cards with three player's heads on them. I think if Felix Jones is going to be put on a card, it should be mandatory that he's pictured with Marion Barber and Tashard Choice.

#27 Knowshon Moreno. Moreno has had trouble staying on the field this season. But look at his muscle definition. Looks like he's been spending the extra free time in the weight room.

#8 Matt Hasselbeck. It's hard to believe that Hasselbeck took the Seahawks to a Super Bowl only five years ago. Seriously, that did happen, right?

Wow, this was fun. I'll be back tomorrow to post the basketball cards.

A Lesson Learned

Chris Harris had his best game of the season Sunday afternoon in the Bears' 38-34 victory over the Jets. He recorded 11 tackles, 10 of them solo, recovered a Santonio Holmes fumble in the 1st quarter, and then picked off Sanchez with less than a minute left to clinch the game for Chicago.

To most people, Harris is known as the Bears' hard-hitting safety. To a smaller number of us, he's @ChrisHarrisNFL, his Twitter account, where he interacts with fans and critics alike almost daily. In fact, Chris Harris is one of the most accessible modern athletes. Between Twitter and his blog, he's established a unique way of using social media to showcase his personality and enhance his brand.
Athletes on Twitter often give away tickets to games, usually holding some kind of contest to determine who wins them. On Christmas night, Harris did just that. He had four pairs of tickets for the Jets game and asked four questions about himself. The first person to correctly answer the question would be given a pair of tickets.
I normally don't get caught up in these sort of things because I start convincing myself I have a great chance of winning. This usually leads to disappointment -- that I could have avoided. But I decided to give this contest a try. It was Christmas night and I was Christmased out. The alternative to taking part in a contest to win Bears tickets was watching one of one of four Christmas movies I'd seen ten times a piece, or listen to one of 250 Christmas songs I'd been listening to for the entire month of December.

First question from Harris (all of which I'm paraphrasing, by the way): What was the name of my school mascot?

Google is my friend. Now there's two ways of going about this question. Look up where Chris went to school (Louisiana-Monroe), and either hope the mascot is in the title, or then do another Google search for the mascot. This approach takes too much time. It's a race against anyone else who may be answering, some of who probably didn't need to look it up.
I decided to go all in and typed in "Chris Harris School Mascot." To my surprise, an interview of his with WGN was the second result, and it contained the answer, "War Eagles." I was a little hesitant at first. What if I responded and was wrong? How stupid would that look?
I wrote back. I was right. I was too slow. Someone else won. Next question I would just have to pull the trigger. I decided to leave the tab of the interview up. I thought he might ask another question that could be answered from that page.

Second question: What number did I originally wear as a freshman in college before switching numbers before my sophomore year?

This was a tough one. I thought it might be on the tab I already had up but it wasn't. I immediately realized that this wasn't an answer I or anyone else could simply Google search. It was going to take a little bit of detective work and luck. I typed in "Chris Harris College Number" and clicked on an ESPN.com link. Each year listed him as number 5. I figured that was the number he had switched to after his sophomore year, seeing as the information was so widely available.
I don't remember how I got there, but eventually ended up on Louisiana-Monroe's program for the upcoming 2003 season, Harris' junior year. The article didn't mention Harris' number, but when I scrolled all the way down, there was a picture of a number 20 making a tackle, with the name Harris on the back of his jersey. The caption read: FS Chris Harris. That was my break. I was convinced I had the information others didn't. I was going to be the first to get this question that others were too stupid to figure out. They all probably thought the answer was 5.
I responded to Harris with my answer and patiently waited. I thought I had a great shot. My heart began beating a little faster. I started refreshing the page every ten seconds. About ten minutes later I found out I didn't win. That was my best chance, I thought, and I just wasn't quick enough.

Third question: What was my favorite football team growing up?

The answer was the Dallas Cowboys. It was on the WGN tab I had left open. The same tab everyone else responding was probably consulting as well. I was beat out again.

Fourth and final question: Who is my favorite NFL safety of all time?

Let me preface this question by saying, I had spent the last five minutes memorizing the answers to all of the WGN questions. Two of the three questions were from that list, so I decided to go with the odds and assume the fourth one would come from there. The WGN question was: Favorite player growing up? And the answer was Steve Atwater.
Atwater's name immediately popped into my head. "Write it down," a voice inside my head shouted. "You'll win." Another voice said, "You memorized his name, but you don't know what position Steve Atwater played, you idiot." And I didn't. I had to Google Steve Atwater, saw he played safety, and responded to Harris with the answer. I knew I'd be too slow, and I was. The couple seconds it took to Google Atwater's position were what cost me.

The saying "showing your age" is usually referring to old age. Not in this case. Atwater's name sounded familiar, but I was downright embarrassed when I saw that he retired in 1999, when I was 12 years old. No excuses for not knowing him.
To be fair, on a scale of one 1 to 10, my knowledge of football history is probably about a 3. Basketball is about a 7, and baseball around 5. I blame this disparity on two things:
1) The Bulls won their sixth championship in 1998. I was completely enamored with basketball at the time. I delved into every NBA book I could find and knew more about the NBA than most 12 year-olds.
2) 1998 was also the year that Mark McGwire and Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa rewrote the record books by belting 70 and 66 home runs, respectively. That sparked my love for baseball, and baseball statistics in general. I became pretty familiar with records and players from different eras around that time.
The Bears went 4-12 in 1998, finishing last in what was then the NFC Central. That was their second straight year finishing last in the division and they would finish last for two more years. I wasn't as interested in football as a kid because my team wasn't any good. If they were, I'd probably know the history a little better.
Anyway, I started reading up on Steve Atwater after losing out on the tickets. He played ten of his eleven seasons with the Denver Broncos and was selected to the Pro Bowl eight times. I was especially interested in the way Wade Phillips, who was Denver's defensive coordinator at the time, used Atwater. He played him close to the line of scrimmage, basically as a fourth linebacker.
As a result, Atwater was able to total more than one thousand tackles in his career, an astonishing number for a safety. Atwater is probably best known for a hit he put on Chiefs running back Christian "The Nigerian Powerhouse" Okoye, shown in the video below.




I've always been interested in the way different athletes rise to fame, and especially how certain athletes are inextricably linked through out time. For those who witnessed the hit, Atwater and Okoye will always share a place in NFL history together.
Okoye's story is pretty fascinating as well. Once one of the most dominant power runners in football before injuries and disinterest curbed his career, Okoye established a reputation as a gentle giant and Tecmo Super Bowl legend. Here's a pretty good video on Okoye during his prime, although a bit cringe-worthy during some parts compared to the Politically Correct standards of today.



I didn't win the tickets, but got a nice history lesson in exchange. That's a pretty good consolation prize in my book. Best believe I'll be ready for any Steve Atwater related questions in the near future.

The Chicago Bulls Wish You A Happy Holidays

I'm a sucker for athletes making holiday skits like this. In the 1980s and early 1990s, NBA players blessed us with plenty of hilarious moments via the NBA Draft and post-game press conferences. It's not like that anymore. Players are coached at an early age about how to avoid doing or saying anything stupid to the media. And in all fairness, they get roasted for practically every comment they make, so it's best to err on the side of caution and refrain from letting loose.
These videos are one of the few times athletes can stray from the way they're "supposed" to act and just have fun. In an age where player's media personalities are becoming more and more robotic, videos like this are a breath of fresh air.
Top 3 Reasons To Watch:
1) Kyle Korver channels his inner-Sinatra. I have to applaud Korver for being the lone player who even attempted to sing his part. Although I'm not sure about that "Ode-to-the-Nutcracker" march he added in.
2) Derrick Rose is funny. His head tilt is priceless. I think marketers are slowly starting to pick up on this as Rose has appeared in a funny ESPN and fantasy basketball commercial after being shafted in the Adidas 'Fast Don't Lie' ad. I think guys like LeBron and Dwight Howard are thought of as funnier because they joke around on the court, where as Rose is pretty stoic.
3) Joakim Noah being Joakim Noah. After his playing career he seriously needs a reality show. Here's my top five (in order) of current players I want to see in their own reality show:
1. Ron Artest
2. Joakim Noah
3. Delonte West
4. Zach Randolph
5. Stephen Jackson
Honorable mentions to Yao Ming (not sure if he's still considered a current player), and Shaq (I could see his shtick getting old pretty quick. Plus, he already had a semi-reality show when he faced off against other athletes in their sports).

Happy Holidays, everyone! Don't forget, the Bulls play on Christmas Day for the first time since 1997. The last time the Bulls and Knicks played each other on Christmas was in 1994. The Bulls were victorious 107-104 behind Scottie Pippen's 36 points. Let's hope for a repeat performance.   

A Fond Farewell

In a way, Brett Favre has been a victim of his own success. Through his play over the last two decades, Favre has ingratiated himself with the mainstream media. The media's over-the-top praise of Favre's play, once the reason to celebrate him, has now largely become the reason to hate him.
The sad part about Favre's narrative is he hasn't been an innocent bystander, simply playing the game and letting the media and fans talk about him. His yearly flirtation with retirement is really just a cry for attention -- which brings me to the sad part. Brett Favre didn't need to pander for that kind of attention. People cared about Brett Favre, they didn't need to be convinced to care about him. In fact, his flip-flopping retirement speeches made people stop caring. The exact opposite of what he was trying to accomplish.
In March of 2007 when Favre first retired, most NFL fans were willing to embrace him. While he wasn't universally liked, I think most football fans appreciated what he did for the game and could respect a Hall of Fame career when they saw one.
He came out of retirement shortly thereafter, and hence, the Favre apologists were born. These apologists painted Favre as a man torn between his body and mind. His mind desperately wanted to come back to the game he loved and played so successfully, but his body told him no -- he couldn't hold up. It was quite a heroic picture. Through sheer will and determination, Favre could overcome his body's shortcomings.
Then there was the other side, Favre's critics. They thought of him as an attention-seeking prima donna, concerned primarily with keeping his name in the news, more so than winning. In 2007, most people were on the other side. Now, approaching the end of 2010, they've almost all converted to this side.
While Favre can be criticized for his performance, ego, or various off the field issues, his willingness to play can never be questioned. Favre's consecutive game's started streak ended a week and a half ago when he failed to suit up and face the Giants. He tallied 297 consecutive starts, 321 including the playoffs.
A day before Favre's streak was snapped, the Metrodome roof collapsed. Before the collapse, the Metrodome housed 230 consecutive Vikings games, 91 less than Brett Favre alone. If that doesn't put Favre's accomplishment into perspective, I don't know what does.
Growing up as a Bears fan, I was able to see Favre play often. I watched him rattle off eleven straight victories against us in the 1990s, and then seven straight in the 2000s. I saw him amass a 23-13 record against us playing for both the Packers and Vikings. I hated Favre, but I couldn't help but respect him. And even after all his shenanigans, I still do.
So when he decided to give it a go against the Bears on Monday Night, I was thrilled. I wanted one last chance to beat Brett Favre. From 1992-2003, Favre was 20-4 against the Bears. From 2004-2010 heading into Monday's game, he was 3-8. We couldn't beat him in his prime, so now we have to settle on beating him at the end of his career. As a Bears fan, I want every victory against Favre I can get before he's done.
Speaking of which, I believe this is his last year. I've never believed that before, but now I finally do. He didn't start a game. That's enough evidence for me to believe he can't do it anymore. I'm glad the Bears pulled off one last win, and I'm glad I was able to witness Brett Favre's career.