bukie

If NYG-WAS and CHI-GB are being moved to 3:15, what is going to be the Sunday night game? The NFC West "showdown"?

Possible Bears scenarios for next week: Clinch 1 seed with: - ATL loss v NO + CHI win v GB + ATL loss v CAR + NO loss v TB + PHI loss v MIN OR DAL Clinch 2 seed with: - CHI win - PHI loss v MIN OR DAL 3 seed with: - CHI loss + PHI win x 2 If Atlanta wins tomorrow and Philly loses Tuesday, the Bears are locked into the 2 seed and next week's game is meaningless (for them).

Holding off on NFC Week 17 scenarios because it can become a lot less complicated after the two games this week.

Up to date playoff scenarios: AFC week 17: CLINCHED: New England - AFC East division, first round bye and homefield throughout playoffs. Kansas City - AFC West division. Pittsburgh - playoff spot. Baltimore - playoff spot. New York Jets - playoff spot ELIMINATED: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Denver, Cleveland, Houston, Miami, Oakland, Tennessee, San Diego PITTSBURGH Steelers Pittsburgh clinches AFC North division and a first-round bye: 1) PIT win 2) BAL loss BALTIMORE Ravens Baltimore clinches AFC North division and a first-round bye: 1) BAL win + PIT loss INDIANAPOLIS Colts Indianapolis clinches AFC South division: 1) IND win 2) JAC loss JACKSONVILLE Jaguars Jacksonville clinches AFC South division: 1) JAC win + IND loss SEEDS #1 - NEW ENGLAND #2 - PIT (see scenario above) - BAL (see scenario above) #3 - KC (KC win/tie or IND loss/tie) - IND (IND win + KC loss) #4 - KC (KC loss + IND win) - IND (IND win + KC win/tie OR win/tie OR JAC loss/tie) - JAC (JAC win + IND loss) #5 - BAL (division scenario above does not occur) - PIT (division scenario above does not occur + NYJ loss/tie) - NYJ (NYJ win + PIT loss + BAL win/tie) #6 - NYJ (NYJ loss/tie OR PIT win/tie OR BAL loss - PIT (PIT loss + BAL win/tie + NYJ win) NFC Week 16 (still 2 games to play): CLINCHED: Atlanta (playoff spot), Chicago (NFC North), Philadelphia (NFC East) ELIMINATED: Carolina, Detroit, Dallas, Washington, Minnesota, Arizona, San Francisco ATLANTA Falcons Atlanta clinches NFC South division and homefield advantage: 1) ATL win CHICAGO Bears Chicago clinches a first-round bye: 1) PHI loss NEW ORLEANS Saints New Orleans clinches a playoff spot: 1) NO win

Of course, there's also the (remote) possibility yet of catching Atlanta for the 1 seed.

I don't think this game will be cancelled. At worst, postponed until tomorrow, possibly.

That may have been the stupidest play in NCAA history by Tisdale, regardless of the call.

So angry right now.

The sound clips from that Buffalo game where they mic'd up Cutler were hilarious, though.

BP's updated standings projections through 12/21: Eastern Conference: 1. Boston 68-14 2. Miami 58-24 3. Chicago 58-24 4. Orlando 48-34 5. Atlanta 44-38 6. Indiana 42-40 7. New York 39-43 8. Milwaukee 38-44 ---------------------------- 9. Philadelphia 35-47 10. Toronto 30-52 11. New Jersey 27-55 12. Charlotte 25-57 13. Detroit 24-58 14. Cleveland 21-61 15. Washington 20-62 Western Conference: 1. Dallas 63-19 2. San Antonio 63-19 3. Utah 54-28 4*. LA Lakers 50-32 5. New Orleans 51-31 6. Oklahoma City 51-31 7. Denver 50-32 8. Portland 44-38 -------------------------------- 9. Phoenix 42-40 10. Houston 42-40 11. Memphis 37-45 12. Golden State 30-52 13. LA Clippers 26-56 14. Minnesota 20-62 15. Sacramento 17-65 * Pacific Division Winner

Nice punishment. 1 game. What a joke. Mizzou show's its true colors yet again. What are its true colors? Gold and black, I believe.

Last night aside, the Sixers had been on fire lately, especially defensively this month. They're still on track to at least challenge for a playoff spot, and are one of 9 teams in the East actually capable of making the playoffs (I think 6 teams -- Cleveland, Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, New Jersey and Toronto -- are basically done).

One thing of which last night's game reminded me: In the 2007 NBA draft, the Bulls were drafting either Joakim Noah or Spencer Hawes.

Yeah, so many people have trumpeted the Pac-10 as great this year (and I was on board for a while), but outside of Oregon and Stanford, they aren't that impressive. USC is ok, Arizona is decent, but I haven't seen much to like about the rest of the conference. That said, wins over Mississippi State, Clemson and Georgia aren't wins to be trumpeted either. What is it about the Pac-10 that Sagarin likes so much, I wonder? Nobody (except Washington State) had a bad loss out of conference, and several teams had good wins. They all beat themselves up within the conference, though.

No, but Desean Jackson's return reminded me a little of Devin Hester.

Veteran presence, maybe? Hard to argue with the results, for tonight. Thomas was serviceable, which is more than I expected.

This is an amusing writeup from a Philly blog on tonight's game.

Rose had nearly as many assists as the entire Sixer team tonight.

Bah, Bulls couldn't even set season highs in scoring offense or scoring defense tonight.

I don't think Scalabrine minds much. He's the goofy white guy that gets to play pro basketball on a regular occasion. He probably cries himself to sleep on a bed of millions.

Probably the biggest game for Northwestern's NCAA tourney hopes tonight, easily the most important non-conference game for them.

To clinch the bye, the Packers would also need to beat the Giants.

Still, though, Urlacher wasn't around last year and is this year.

There, I cleaned it up some.

The Packers will own a tiebreaker over the Giants if they beat the Giants this week.