What a great essay. I might add, from a not-so-much philisophical point of view but from a practical one, that the playoff games minus the Superbowl are all intra-conference and historically, conference play is on par with itself. In other words, in conference play, most teams involved match up well to each other. This is no different. The NFC this year was markedly weak and so, even though Atlanta and Philly are strong teams, the level of play is not the equivalent of the level of play in the AFC. In the NFC, there was a team without a winning record that made the playoffs and leading up, there was the possibility of teams withOUT a winning record making it as well. In the AFC, there were numerous teams with winning records and strong teams (my Baltimore Ravens included) that did not make it. But again, the level of play intra-conference is exceptionally high. The NFC and AFC do not match up well though, which makes the AFC team the easy winner of the Superbowl (A foregone conclusion in my book - no matter which teams win) and thus, uninteresting.

Aaron

Maybe it's because I pretty much only watch football during the playoffs, but I've only noticed this in the last couple of years:

What's the deal with NFL announcers and their tendency to say "the football" instead of "the ball"; "this football team" instead of "this team"; "the football game" instead of "the game"; etc., etc.??

Do they think the viewers are going to lose track of what kind of game we're watching? Is this a new trend, or have they always done this?

And am I turning into Andy Rooney in my early middle age? God, I hope not.

Aaron took the words right out of my mouth.

The playoffs are waged between, not the best four teams, but the best two teams in each conference.

One might equate this with 'the best of the best, vs. the best of the worst'.

Yet, your sentiment holds true.

And, for me personally, even more so this year, as it will be played in the little burg that is my hometown. And, trust me, here in Jacksonville, this is the biggest thing to hit us since cable.

I cannot wait!

Good points Ace. Nothing is more American than football.

Haha, I got an InstaMention today. I'm "reader Dave Price" Guess I should have sent a link to my blog, too. Oh well.

Also, I should learn to type emails above the level of "semi-literate moron."

Singularity Sky really was great, tho. I highly recommend it.

Yeah Ace, but did you know that Monday is the *worst* day of the year?

And I'm not just speaking for Pittsburgh and Atlanta fans.

http://garfieldridge.blogspot.com/2005/01/today-is-worst-day-of-year.html

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

Dammit!

Damn Patriots!

DAMN DAMN DAMN!

I was surprised how badly the Atlanta and Pittsburgh QBs played. I really thought they had good chances to win this week.

Playoff experience tells, apparently.

I live in Kansas City. Football is rarely anything but a let-down.

This article looks silly in hindsight, a day after two rather uncompetitive games where both losers were lucky not to be on the receiving end of major blowouts.

The Superbowl might actually be a good game this year. Couldn't be worse than yesterday's games.

P
A
T
S

PATS PATS PATS!

this never gets old. winning, that is.