Before getting to football, those in the greater Los Angeles area should check out Robert Davi. He will be singing Sinatra tonight. Rick Amato of KCBQ will be introducing people to Mr. Davi after the event.
http://www.davisingssinatra.com/
The concert is at night. The daytime is reserved for the National Football League. The playoffs are as good as they have ever been, and the divisional round is about to start with a bang.
Take the testosterone level, jack it up to capacity, and then flip the switch until you are ready to bite the bark off of a tree. Then get more intense. That is Ravens vs Steelers.
Football is not about grace or strategy or cunning. At its most base level, it is about controlled rage, legalized scripted, contained violence. It is about men beating the ever loving daylights out of each other.
Three of the four playoff games are compelling (Seahawks vs Bears does nothing for me).
The Packers and the Falcons played an exciting game earlier this year that was decided in the final seconds.
Yes the Jets and the Patriots will have people watching, but for those loving pure unadulterated headknocker football, the Ravens and the Steelers take us back to the stone age.
The Jets and the Patriots do not rise to the same level since it is a one-sided rivalry until proven otherwise.
I loathe the Patriots. I detest Tom Brady because of the “Tuck Rule.”
I love Rex Ryan. He is great for the league, and I would love to see his team back up their boasts. In my mind, they already have, except for when they played New England a few weeks back.
Yes they beat the Patriots early in the year, but the 45-3 carpetbombing they suffered a few weeks ago took away some of their credibility. If this is to truly become as compelling as it was when Bill Parcells and Pete Carroll played in the “Tuna Bowl,” the Jets have to give the Patriots a competitive game.
(That first game was a thriller, won in overtime by the Patriots, featured the Jets tying the game with seconds left, blasting the kick returner and forcing a fumble, and then seeing the Jets win evaporate on a blocked field goal.)
The Ravens and the Steelers finished with identical 12-4 records. They each won on the road by 3 points in the final moments.
The Jets and Patriots is a finesse game compared to the Ravens and Steelers.
Remember the last time the teams played. Ben Roethlisberger had his nose broken and played the whole game that way. Joe Flacco got leveled late in the game, forcing the deciding fumble.
Ray Lewis, Haloti Ngata and Ed Reed are one side. Troy Palomalu and company are on the other side.
John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin have teams that are mirror images of each other.
The Patriots and the Jets have been trash talking. There is disrespect and insults worthy of a school playground rankout contest.
Rex Ryan is brilliantly putting all the pressure on himself and taking it off his players. Bill Bellichick runs his team in the autocratic fashion he learned from Parcells.
Yet the Ravens and the Steelers have mutual respect. These players have kept the trash talking to a virtual minimum. They have each beaten each other, and do not need bulletin board material.
The Patriots have the best record, and the Jets are the most entertaining.
Yet for pure football at its most animalistic, the Ravens and the Steelers have already given us several classics, including the AFC Title Game only 2 years ago.
So buckle up the chin strap tight. Have some gauze pads nearby. This one is going to get bloody.
This is real football.
Get ready for World War III.
The Ravens and the Steelers are ready to belt each other senseless.
Are you ready for some football!!!!!!!!
Let’s get it on!!!!!!!!!!
eric