Two straight days of fatigue and lousy weather apparently lends itself well to two things: blogging and watching NFL playoff games. Granted, there's been some other activities (grocery store trip, reading, napping, a good run in the mist, New Year resolving, online traffic school, movie watching), but much of the past 36 hours can be directly linked to the NFL and blogging. It's time those came together in the form of random musings (Disclaimer: The rest of this post is about football, but not just inane football-speak. There might actually be substance buried deep within):

-It seemed unfair that Arizona (9-7) was in the playoffs ahead of teams with the same record, namely Tampa Bay, since Arizona plays in a horrible division and got 6 of their 9 wins against their lowly division mates San Francisco, Seattle and St. Louis. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, went 9-7 playing in the very tough NFC South, where the "worst" team was New Orleans, who were in the playoff hunt until the very end and could potentially beat any team in the league if their defense showed up on the same day as their huge offense. Then again, Tampa could have been in the playoffs if they had beaten Oakland (at home, mind you) on the last day of the season. They didn't, so tough luck. Of course, Arizona got to host Atlanta (11-5 in that aforementioned tough NFC South) since Atlanta was a wild card team (Carolina won the division) and Arizona was "champion" of their sucky division. Maybe it was the homefield advantage, or maybe it was something else, but Arizona beat Atlanta and life goes on.

-Almost the same thing happened in the AFC with San Diego and Indianapolis. San Diego (8-8) won their crappy division, while Indianapolis (10-6) finished second in their much tougher division, so San Diego got to host (and win). A troubling paradox emerged from this game, that has probably been obvious all along: Peyton Manning, despite going to UT and leading their band in "Rocky Top" after beating Alabama (yeah, he did that too), is painfully likable. His approach to the game is amazing and it shows when he plays. Very rarely does his team lose because of his actions, which says a lot for a quarterback. And yes, more importantly, his TV commercials (see?) are very entertaining. Meanwhile, San Diego's quarterback, Alabama-native Phillip Rivers comes off as a bit of a hick-turd much of the time. This is painful to admit, since he's from Alabama and has worn Piggly Wiggly t-shirts to press conferences, but lest we forget that Terrell Owens is from Alabama too.

-Speaking of TO, the best news this NFL season is that the Dallas Cowboys did not make the playoffs and they looked like total fools in doing so. The Cowboys were great in the early 90s with Aikman/Smith/Irvin/etc, but this new version is positively unlikable, with the exception of Demarcus Ware. Thankfully, them not making the playoffs will mean that Sportscenter will only talk about the Cowboys for 60% of its broadcast, instead of the customary 80% and more importantly, there will be no "WOO!" parties downstairs until at least next September.

-Even though the Dolphins are one of those generally iconic and likable teams, it's still hard to get behind a team that is decked out in bright aqua (or it that teal?), bright orange and bright white. It definitely has a "Miami" look to it, but that's why Miami ain't that great. It's tacky. Somehow this negative dissection of the Dolphins has managed to not include Joey Porter, but yes, he still blows in the most obnoxious way possible. Now, Ray Lewis isn't much more likable as a person or a linebacker, but at least he represents Baltimore and does so in black and a surprisingly digestible dose of purple. He does lead a really great defense, though, even though the best member of said defense is Ed Reed. That dude is impressive. Almost as impressive as LeRon McClain, who has gone from greatly appreciated, but admittedly uninspiring, fullback at Alabama to NFL Pro Bowler in his rookie season. With today's effort, he sits 23 yards short of 1000 for the season, despite sharing carries with two higher-profile tailbacks most of the season.

-This Philadelphia/Minnesota game has been fairly entertaining and the Eagles' imminent victory creates a situation where both of today's games have been won by the visiting team, while both of yesterday's games were won by the home team. Interestingly, the visiting teams has been considered the favorites in all four of the weekend's games, further illustrating one of the few fallacies in how the NFL does business. Home-field advantage should be based on record, not whether you can win a bad division while feasting on those six division games each season. The only remarkable thing about Minnesota (other than a starting quarterback that went to Alabama State) is their defensive lineman Jared Allen. He has to be the most white trash player in the NFL, but he's also kinda awesome. If he could get that DUI thing under control (he has 3 of 'em), he could qualify as totally awesome. He does, however, somehow manage to look more civilized in his mugshot. It also looks like his mugshot was taken in the barber's chair, complete with neck-tight smock.

Ok, the games are over, so this entry is too.