Friday, January 11, 2013

The Great 8

My team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, didn't make the NFL playoffs this year, and I've found watching the post season is more fun if you have a team to root for.

There are eight left, and making a choice is difficult.  The Washington Redskins were a sentimental favorite.  Washington hadn't been in the playoffs in a long time, and quarterback Robert Griffin III has a lot of talent.  He seems like a nice kid.  Just my luck.  Washington got knocked out Sunday evening.  RGIII has a severe knee injury and underwent surgery this week.  Doctors say the prognosis is good, but with something as severe as a knee injury, you never know.  As of this writing, the '13 season is in jeopardy.

The Baltimore Ravens are one of Pittsburgh's biggest enemies, if not THE biggest, so they're out.  A Steelers fan can never, ever, ever root for the Ravens.

Denver beat Pittsburgh in the playoffs last season.  Gone.

New England is a team with a head coach caught cheating.  Never.

Seattle's head coach had to flee the University of Southern California before the NCAA caught up with his rule breaking program.

San Francisco's head coach also appears to be a grandstanding piece of work.

Green Bay beat Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl a few years ago.  Disqualification.

That leaves me with Atlanta and Houston.

Atlanta made it to one Super Bowl and lost.  There are no glaring black marks.

Houston has been in the league since 2002.  It's achieved a fair amount of success for an expansion team only ten years old.  It has never appeared in a Super Bowl.  Like Atlanta, there are major negatives in my book.

Texans, it is.  Go Houston!  Unfortunately, the Texans are in New England this weekend-- a team that pasted the Texans earlier in the season.  I wonder who I'll be rooting for next weekend.