Monday Morning Sports Recap

 NFL football playoffs this Sunday...PRICELESS

• Joe Paterno - RIP Joe Pa.  Say what you want, believe what you believe, and feel what you feel, but for me Joe Pa is a legend, despite his part in the molestation scandal that rocked Penn State.  Being the daughter of an older father who also coached sports, I agree with the comments that basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski made in Paterno's defense.  But anything I try to explain here will just cause a stir.  I think one has to have lived with that generation of men to understand their thinking.  I'm not excusing Paterno at all.  I'm saying that he did what he thought was the correct thing to do.  He reported the incident to his superiors.  And there lies the horror.  It was the superiors, the men who were in charge, who didn't continue further.  Yes, Paterno should have done more, but I believe he was the fall guy, the man who could take the heat off of the school and the real people who did nothing.  And for me, that is inexcusable.  And it killed Paterno just as much as the lung cancer did.  A sad ending for a man who brought plenty more to the world of sports then he will now be remembered for. 
• Tampa Rays Fans - Get out your mothball closeted #23 shirts and give them a wash because Carlos Pena is back in the house!!  Pena signed a one year deal to return to the team after leaving a year ago to play for the Chicago Cubs.  We love Pena at this house because his daughter attended the same school as my girls and he was always very giving of his time and very kind to the kids.  Welcome back Carlos!
• Bruce Arians - The Steelers offensive coordinator announced his retirement this past week.  I'm not sure if he was forced into it or not, but either way I'll send him some respect because the man got us to two Super Bowls in his five years as the head offensive man.  I just hope we can get someone in there who can work toward getting us some points on the board!
• Flacco's facial hair - Not all of us are supermodels and it is hard to be around beautiful people day in and day out. I know the Ravens quarterback knows he can't compete with pretty boy Tom Brady in the looks department, but seriously did he think that fu man chu look was a good one?
• CBS - What was up with the commericials that CBS ran on itself that said more people watched football on CBS than on any other network? How about because the NFL controls the channels? How about because I prefer the AFC to the NFC? College football? Pfft. I'm not sure they can make that claim.
• Helmet to Helmet - Again with the hits and again no big replays or half hour talks regarding the hit that occurred when a Patroit player hit a Raven player. It did happen on the Ravens sideline and kudos to coach Harbough for screaming at the ref for not calling it, but had that been Steelers James Harrison...
• Joe Flacco - He got dissed by his teammate earlier in the week, but he pulled himself together after a shaky first quarter and played some mentally tough football for a kid who the Steelers rattle quite often.
• Overtime - NOT. At least in the first game.  Oops. Ah, gotta feel a little something for the Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff who missed a 32 yard field goal with 15 seconds left to tie the game with the Patroits. I would hate to go into that locker room and have to look Ray Lewis in the eye. Whoo! That's a tough one.
• Fights - Quite a few scrimmishes in the first game with the Ravens pushing and shoving and the Pats screaming in faces, but the same thing happened in the second game with the Giants pushing and shoving and the 49ers mouthing off in faces. A few punches and face mask grabbing went on as well in games. Tensions were certainly high.
• Steven Tyler - Maybe it was just me, but I enjoyed Tyler's rendition of the National Anthem before the first playoff game. Apparently I was in the minority, but then again I think I'm battling an ear infection.
• Chad Ochocinco - No reason mentioned for his not being suited up or on the sidelines for the Patroits game, but Ochocinco tweeted earlier that his father had died. If it is true that he didn't play because of his father's death then I'm impressed. We don't normally see that in the sports world. Hmmmm...let's see if he is there for the Super Bowl.
• Giants Offensive Line - Did they even show up?  I must have missed them.  Eli is going to be hurting this morning.  That last shot of him before giving the ball back to the 49ers before time ran out in the 4th quarter said it all.  He was covered in mud and grass and his shirt was pulled down to his elbow, shoulder pads exposed, weariness all over his face.
• 49ers Defense - These guys were there and all over that field.  Our sports columnist said  in Sunday's Tampa Bay Times paper these games would be all defense and it would be the kind like the 70's Steel Curtain; raw and brutal.  These guys certainly showed up to play and play well they did.
• Giants Defense - No one said they could do it.  Pretty much no shows during the year, especially the last 5 regular season games, but show up for the playoffs they did.  And in the end that is all that mattered.
• Devin Thomas - This boy was on his game.  The fact that he saw the punt that slightly touched Kyle Williams leg, picked it up and recovered it despite it being called dead.  He had to have had laser eyes!  And then, what the hell, he did it again forcing a fumble from Kyle Williams that set up the winning score in overtime.  That is one guy who will be on cloud nine for the next two weeks.  He's a hero in New York.
• Overtime -  YES!  And it was a doozy of an overtime.  Changing of the guard, a fumble, and a kick to win it.
• Rematch - Come on, admit it, you wanted to see the Patriots try to reap what they lost from the Giants in their last Super Bowl meet up.  Who wouldn't?
• Kickers - One lost it and one won it.  All the pushing and shoving, running and catching, and it came down to the kickers.  One wakes up happy and the other probably doesn't sleep.
• Harbaugh - Jim Harbaugh refused to give an interview to Fox after the game.  One of the things about coaching Jimmy is the agony of defeat and having to man up and discuss it.  Not cool in my opinion, but I understand it.  Tough day for the Harbaugh family. 
• Team Game - Win or lose the game is a team game and let us hope that the players remind Billy Cundiff and Kyle Williams of that in the locker room.  Long night and road ahead for these two.
• Chip Kelly - Rumor has it that this will be the Tampa Bay Buccaneer's new head coach.  Kelly, the coach of the Oregon Ducks, would be an offensive man to mold Buc's quarterback Josh Freeman.  Kelly and the Glazers, owners of the Buc's, met in secret this week.  Oh boy, here we go again.  When the Glazers meet with people in secret it doesn't usually turn out well for anyone.  And what is with hiring these successful NCAA coaches?  Very few make it in the NFL (hello Steve Spurrier) so Kelly is going to have win me over before I applaud this decision. 
• Twitter - The fun thing about it is following football players, sportscasters, and comedic writers.  After the second game I cried I was laughing so hard at the tweets regarding the game and the refs.  If you aren't on it yet, and you are a football fanatic, you have got to sign up now and follow your fav players.   Great insight.  Great fun.  Great stuff!