NFL Picks: Wildcard Edition

The playoffs. My favorite time of the year, especially during years when my team (the Cowboys) are in the thick of it. A year ago this week, my heart was broken when Tony Romo bobbled the snap for a potential game-winning field goal in Seattle.
I’ve gotten over it, and I’m ready for 2008’s version.
As for the yearlong picks, at NO TIME during the season this year were my wife and I tied when it comes to records. I led for the first half of the season, and Jennifer took over and led me the rest of the year.
I trailed her by 3 games heading into the final week, and thanks to her not picking with the realization that several teams would rest their players, I caught her and we’re tied heading into the playoffs.
So we’ve got four weeks to see who’s the better picker … not that it’s a competition or anything.

From Jennifer: Geez. Playoff picks time. This is going to be hard. I have enough trouble picking regular season games, how will I decide playoff games?
Ooh–Did Billy mention we get to watch the playoffs in HD this weekend? While I’m excited about it, I really just can’t wait to see my boyfriend Brett in HD next weekend. Sigh.

Last week’s rundown:
Straight up:
Jennifer 7-9 (160-96 overall)
Billy 10-6 (160-96 overall)
Against the line:
Billy 8-8 (124-124-8 overall)

Saturday
at
Line: Jaguars by 2.5
My pick: It seems Jacksonville is the sexy pick this week, and for good reason. There are few teams heading into the playoffs who are hotter.
But I’m going with the Steelers this week for several reasons.
1) Pittsburgh’s at home, and while I know Jacksonville already beat them there this year, this is the playoffs and the Steelers (two years off a Super Bowl win) aren’t a bunch of amateurs. Pittsburgh will have the crowd, they’ll have the weather and they’ll have the poor field conditions. I don’t know why I typed the last part.
2) Jacksonville’s QB David Garrard had a great year, but he’s basically a rookie, and this scenario will be too much for him. The usually mistake-free QB will probably falter a little, and this isn’t a good come-from-behind team.
3) I know I typed “several” reasons, but those were my only two.
Steelers 27, Jaguars 22
Jennifer: Jags v Steelers–Neither of these teams has been consistently good or consistently bad this season. I’m taking the STEELERS at home.

at
Line: Seahawks by 3.5
My pick: I read that Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck is 21-3 in his last three years at Qwest Field.
As much as I hate the Seahawks for beating Dallas last year, I hate the Redskins more.
Todd Collins’ emergence and the Redskins overcoming adversity have been great stories for Washington, but I’m still waiting for him to realize he’s Todd Collins.
Seahawks 20, Redskins 13
Jennifer: Redskins v Seahawks–The Redskins have been hot the past few weeks while Seattle seems to be cooling down some. I’ll take the REDSKINS.

Sunday
at
Line: Chargers by 10
My pick: The Browns truly deserve to be in this spot, and if they were, I’d say the Browns had a chance.
But Tennessee’s probably the weakest of the 12 playoff teams, especially with Vince Young at QB.
San Diego, on the other hand, is in an interesting position. Last year, they lost in the second round of the playoffs after having a first-round bye, and they went and fired their coach. This year, they’ll probably lose in the second round of the playoffs, but the difference will be, they won in the first round instead of having a bye. You think the owners will say, “Hey, at least we won a playoff game,” even if they still lose in the second round?
Chargers 34, Titans 14
Jennifer: Let’s be honest. If the Titans had to play the real Colts in the last week, they wouldn’t be here right now. I think the CHARGERS handle them easily.

at
Line: Bucs by 3
My pick: New York looked great the past few weeks, and Eli Manning plays much better in warm weather. That said, Eli Manning stinks when he’s playing a blitzing defense, and Tampa Bay has the people to give him the Manning Pout all day long.
Bucs 24, Giants 20
Jennifer: Boy, did the Giants look tough against the Pats or what? I say, if they can give the Pats some real competition, the Bucs should be a breeze. GIGANTES.

Bye weeks:

Iowa Caucus

In case you missed it in today’s Herald, local party chairmen Don Trabold (Democrat) and Richard Littiken (Republican) provided us with their thoughts on last night’s Caucus. Our paper also published an editorial on the absurdity of such a small state having such a big say in who the next president of the United States would be.
What do I think? I think the current system is fun and definitely interesting, but I think every four years, states should rotate when it comes to when these caucuses and primaries will occur. Iowa got the publicity and important vote this year, but why not allow North Carolina to be the big state four years from now? We’re waiting until May this year.
If it’s planned out in advance, it won’t hurt states to have to prepare for an early vote. Plus, if a big state like Texas was granted a January or February primary, could you imagine how important it woudl become? Multiply Iowa by 30.
I understand you can’t have just one giant primary, because the current system allows candidates to actually go to these smaller states and shake hands and kiss babies. One big primary would force candidates to use all their funds in New York, California, Texas and Florida.
It’s just a shame so many states are left out. Soon enough, you’ll have states clamoring to see who can hold their primary on New Year’s Day, just so they can be the first.
Anyway, here’s what appeared in Friday’s Herald.

Huckabee will appeal to Christians, but the GOP race is far from over
By RICHARD LITTIKEN
Chairman, Lee County Republicans
The constant reporting from Iowa has been fascinating. For the first time in U.S. history, we’re starting to select party candidates in the first week of January while living in a 24/7 news cycle.
Thus, regardless of who comes out on top in Iowa (or New Hampshire or even South Carolina), day-to-day events can change everything quickly.
Christian conservatives in Iowa (and they are plentiful) clearly went for Mike Huckabee even though he was outspent by Mitt Romney by almost 25-1. Fred Thompson also did better than expected. In all three instances, Republicans were choosing fiscal and social conservatives. And those voting patterns won’t change dramatically in New Hampshire or South Carolina.
Huckabee has Southern appeal and might do surprisingly well throughout the south. McCain is counting on South Carolina, and Romney will focus on New Hampshire so they can all claim a victory to build upon. Thompson’s surprising numbers might come into play helping or hurting anyone. This means the race is wide open in the GOP, and local Republicans will focus on conservative issue like taxes, property rights and national security over the next month and likely through the GOP convention.
But the real story of the evening is Barack Obama, who has dominated Hillary Clinton and the Clinton machine. Pulling out all the stops and spending millions appears to have done little to help Hillary and will make New Hampshire even more critical to her viability.
The fact that John Edwards (who started buying computers for kids in Iowa just months after being elected senator in ’98) essentially tied Hillary should also be troubling to the Hillary camp.
The eventual problem for the Democrats moving forward is that the situation in Iraq continues to improve and the economy is moving along with unemployment under 5 percent. Those who support Obama for change will have trouble translating that into national support for change.
That said, the GOP will have to recall why the country voted against them in ’06. When Republicans started supporting big government, wasteful spending, the public will be quick to react. Huckabee and Thompson garner the bulk of conservative votes, and Romney is steady and well funded. There are so many variables that this entire primary process will be more like watching a State vs Carolina basketball game going down to the wire than a blowout.
The real wildcard coming out of Iowa on the GOP will be Guliani. He does well in national polls and has focused on Florida, which has enough votes to overcome Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. But will the money spent be able to counter the constant news attention given to his rivals until then?

Democrats should be encouraged by incredible voter turnout in Iowa
By DON TRABOLD
Chairman, Lee County Democrats
As I write this, the results Iowa Democratic Caucus are still not complete, but we are getting very positive information.
Turnout is more than three times what it was in 2004 and includes many independents and Republicans. This is a good sign for any Democrat who becomes our nominee. It shows that people are tired of the politics of the past eight years and are looking for a real change in November.
Even though Barack Obama was the winner, he, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and all Democrats all came out ahead. We are more united than ever this year and will gladly support whichever candidate the primary voters select as our nominee.
Iowa is only one state in a long primary process. We have so many good candidates of such diverse backgrounds that it would not surprise me if our nomination process goes all the way to the end this year.
The people of Iowa — like we in North Carolina — are ready for someone to give us some straight answers and help find solutions to our real problems. Our economy is in serious trouble mainly due to the Republican leadership.
Debt, Iraq, health care, schools, gas prices, jobs and Chinese imports are just a few of the many things that have gone in the wrong direction since 2000. Since 1980, there has only been one Democratic president. In November of 2006, Democrats gained control of Congress for the first time since 1994. There is nowhere to lay blame except at the Republican door.
Tonight is the first night of the 2008 election, and we Democrats are excited at the possibility of turning our country around again and giving it back to the people. I would encourage all independents and moderate Republicans to join us in this cause.
We are excited about our candidates and excited about 2008, but realize that it will be another close election and we as Democrats can not afford to take anything for granted. Every vote will count and every vote will be counted.

Herald Editorial
Thank you, Iowa, for choosing our president
Thursday’s Iowa Caucus was big news. You saw it on our front page today, you’ll see our local party chairmen comment on it on Page 8A today, and you’ll see us write about it on our blogs as well.
With all the fuss, you’d think the whole country was voting for the next president of the United States this week.
What’s scary is this — in a way, our next president was decided by the small midwestern state Thursday.
How much power does Iowa pack? Consider this: After a four-hour caucus (after you read this, go to the Internet and read about exactly what a “caucus” is … it’s more of a public debate than it is a private vote), you’ve got underdogs who are suddenly picking curtain patterns for the Oval Office (Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee), you’ve got powerhouses who are suddenly wondering what’s gone wrong with their campaigns (Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney) and you’ve got people already dropping out of the race — Chris Dodd and Joseph Biden are dropping out.
All of these dominoes began to fall thanks to small rooms of Iowans deciding who will lead the free world for the next four years.
The very strange and complicated process of choosing a president continues next month with primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina. You’ve got primaries in Michigan where Democratic votes don’t count (we can’t really explain it, but trust us), and by the time North Carolinians go to the polls in May, you may have one or two candidates still standing on the Democratic and Republican sides.
Why can’t North Carolinians have the same voting power as tiny states like Iowa and New Hampshire? Why do we have a system that gives so much voting power to so few people?
Sure, for the “real” vote in November, Americans all vote on the same night, but even in this system, winners are declared before voters on the West Coast are done pulling the levers. We’re a now-now-now society, and information travels quickly. Huckabee was declared the winner in Iowa when fewer than half of the caucus votes had been tallied.
We think the country should reconsider its presidential primary system in the future. Do it all at one time. We understand that the current system allows candidates to campaign in states that probably wouldn’t see this kind of political maneuvering if it was all done at once, but the current system puts too many eggs in some very small baskets.
We congratulate Iowans for their record turnout, and we’ll watch New Hampshire and our neighbor to the south closely when their primaries come.
Hopefully in the future, we’ll get the same chance to have an impact in the primaries. Maybe they could consider a different rotation each year.
A little change wouldn’t hurt.