Andy

Kyle McAlarney ended up getting suspended from school for a semester, which of course means he's done for the year. Sometimes I wish ND would be a little less ND-like in their player punishments (Powers-Neal DUI, suspended remaining 7 games of the season and his career, and now McAlarney possession).

Forgot to mention the 2003 Panthers against the Patriots as a team that received no chance from the media before the game. The line was -7 for that game as well and not one person I knew of gave us a chance. I'm still going through the what-ifs from that game.

Thanks mg. I'll have to bookmark that site as I'm graduating in a year and a half and would slit my wrists to work at Wrigley.

Apart from the stupidity of everyone at ESPN picking the Saints to win last week, I just haven't seen this flat-out disrespecting. And as a Panthers fan, I've seen firsthand how ridiculous ESPN can get when they decide they like a particular team - not a soul that I can recall picked against them in last year's NFC title game, in 2004 when they were coming back from 1-7 to nearly make the playoffs, they were calling them the team with the best chance to stop Philly in the NFC, and this year they were referred to as the best team in the NFC pretty much anytime they won a game. Why anyone takes them seriously anymore is beyond me.

Hell, we had two posters on this message board who said similar things, one of which said the EXACT same thing that poster said. That said, I certainly hope that posters like that weren't allowed into the stadium. I saw a picture of that exact poster on Deadspin yesterday, and it was hanging in the stadium. I'm guessing the guy hid it from the people of authority.

the national media hates the colts! Seriously, what's with the trolling? You're acting more and more like an Eagles fan every day. The national media has unloaded almost an unprecedented level of hate on the Bears this postseason. To pretend otherwise, or that Bears fans are paranoid for thinking this is just complete ignorance of the facts. The Bears aren't even the most criticized team to play for a title in 2007 - the Florida Gators take that honor, and they take it miles ahead of the Bears.

I can't even wrap my brain around this. I can't imagine what it'd look like. Photoshop anybody? Two words: Violet Beauregarde. I meant with the whites. Obviously they'd look awful in blue on blue.

If the Bears had been assessed 7 penalties and the Saints only one, I guarantee you the Bears game thread would've been replete with complaints about the officiating. Not saying it was a poorly officiated game - although the one offensive PI call on the Saints was terrible - but that's the truth. I understand that its tough being outnumbered 300-1 by Bears fans on a forum, but you've grown to be incredibly rough with them. EDIT: Actually, going back to the NFC Championship game, I just found you hunting for a fight. Nice job Truffle. You're no better than a troll. I've lost all respect for you. Sweet, Truffle can join me as a troll on the board. Excellent. Glad to have company now. 8-) I'm incensed to not be in such elite trollish company. :wink:

I saw that story a few weeks ago and forgot to comment. Every last one of those BP jerseys looks awful.

Oh thank god. Assume that Colts will wear white & white? Yeah, the Colts will wear their white uniforms-although I'd love to see all the casual fans watching the Super Bowl who would have no idea what was really going on if the Colts wore their blues :D Why don't the Colts have blue pants? They'd look sharp.

The Bears also played the easiest schedule in the NFL, whereas the Colts had a middle of the pack strength of schedule... and the Bears' strength of victory was in the bottom third of the NFL, whereas the Colts' strength of victory was 4th in the NFL. Yup. The Bears have no right to be in the Super Bowl. Where's the AP Poll when you need it? Get over yourself. Truffle's making a case for Indy being a better team over the course of the year than the Bears (a case I find hard to argue with although I am also picking the Bears to win), not that the Bears have no right to be there. Recognize the difference before you make posts like that. It's called sarcasm. Dry your eyes. It's been near impossible to tell the sarcasm from the genuine anger considering some of the discussions I've seen this playoffs. Especially those argumnents about how good the Panthers are and how they will eventually eclipse the Bears. Oh, wait.... We'll be much better than 06 with Smith for a whole season, DeAngelo (hopefully) starting for a whole season, a competent offensive coordinator, a slightly less murderous schedule, etc. :D

The Bears also played the easiest schedule in the NFL, whereas the Colts had a middle of the pack strength of schedule... and the Bears' strength of victory was in the bottom third of the NFL, whereas the Colts' strength of victory was 4th in the NFL. Yup. The Bears have no right to be in the Super Bowl. Where's the AP Poll when you need it? Get over yourself. Truffle's making a case for Indy being a better team over the course of the year than the Bears (a case I find hard to argue with although I am also picking the Bears to win), not that the Bears have no right to be there. Recognize the difference before you make posts like that. It's called sarcasm. Dry your eyes. It's been near impossible to tell the sarcasm from the genuine anger considering some of the discussions I've seen this playoffs. True. True. Sorry if I ruffled your feathers. It wasn't intentional. It's all good. I've been no stranger to arguments this football season...you'd think I'd be better at it by now. :)

On #3, I believe the replay showed the defender got his hand up high enough that he hit the side of Peyton's helmet. No matter how softly it's done this year, that is an auto-roughing call. The announcers didn't mention it, but what's new there. I know that, but that was ridiculous. The guy was shoved into Peyton by a Colt lineman, as I recall. When you start flagging personal fouls on clearly unintentional plays, you're crossing the line IMO.

I completely agree on all points. The man's a .500 coach since he left the Giants. No more, no less.

The Bears also played the easiest schedule in the NFL, whereas the Colts had a middle of the pack strength of schedule... and the Bears' strength of victory was in the bottom third of the NFL, whereas the Colts' strength of victory was 4th in the NFL. Yup. The Bears have no right to be in the Super Bowl. Where's the AP Poll when you need it? Get over yourself. Truffle's making a case for Indy being a better team over the course of the year than the Bears (a case I find hard to argue with although I am also picking the Bears to win), not that the Bears have no right to be there. Recognize the difference before you make posts like that. It's called sarcasm. Dry your eyes. It's been near impossible to tell the sarcasm from the genuine anger considering some of the discussions I've seen this playoffs.

I'm leaning towards switching to that line of thinking. But if a team doesn't win the final game, would I want to go back and buy a t-shirt? For this, though, I think I'll wait for the SB t-shirt (although the navy locker room shirt does look nice). It almost bit me in the backside when I went to buy a Panthers NFC champs T-shirt in 2003 after the Super Bowl. I ended up getting the last one in stock at my local store (especially surprising to me because I was in Indiana). Of course, with the Internet now, I don't have to worry about that. :) FTR, and off the subject, the next time one of my teams wins a title (knock on wood), I'm going to buy everything I can. Hats, t-shirts, DVDs, sweatshirts, everything.

The Bears also played the easiest schedule in the NFL, whereas the Colts had a middle of the pack strength of schedule... and the Bears' strength of victory was in the bottom third of the NFL, whereas the Colts' strength of victory was 4th in the NFL. Yup. The Bears have no right to be in the Super Bowl. Where's the AP Poll when you need it? Get over yourself. Truffle's making a case for Indy being a better team over the course of the year than the Bears (a case I find hard to argue with although I am also picking the Bears to win), not that the Bears have no right to be there. Recognize the difference before you make posts like that.

:roll: Seriously. For once, I don't mind the roll-eyes. How many QB's have performed like Rex has with the amount of game experience Rex has? Not many. Hell, look at Drew Brees's first couple of seasons. If you compare, his numbers are right there with any of the greats this early in his career. He may or may not become a great QB (all it will really take is the consistency to turn his clunkers into mediocre games like yesterday), but how anyone could pass judgment on him already, based on what he's shown, is beyond me. To be fair (and trying to stay out of the "is Rex good" debate), RSF said Rex IS not good at football. I don't recall reading anything from him saying Rex WILL NOT be good at football or HAS NO CHANCE at being good at football later.

Anyone ordered one of these yet? I may be alone on this, but I don't buy playoff/championship gear until these conditions are met. a) My team is the division champion or wins the conference as a wild card. b) Their season is over.

Not to break up the IU/UI discussion, but ND dropped from 20 to 22 in the polls. I was expecting to drop out completely and am pleasantly surprised. By way of seguing back to the Big Ten, IU debuts in the polls this week at 23.

Hhah, fo-sho, bro. How can there be pass interference if the guy doesn't TOUCH the other player? I don't care if he dives in front of him and doesn't turn around....he didn't TOUCH THE GUY. Either way. The calls didn't make the Patriots give up 32 points or whatever in the second half. Any defensive stand on any number of drives and they'd be in the Super Bowl. That is a clearly defined rule. You cannot just turn your back and stick your hands up. Thats face-guarding and its against the rules. Its not even a controversial call. Was not aware. Either way, its a dumb play by the DB, because even if he didn't touch the guy, he made no attempt to play the ball at all, and left himself exposed to the PI. Why is this a rule anyway? If he doesn't touch the receiver, how is he interfering with his ability to get the ball? First of all, I think I over-reacted a little bit, so sorry for that. I'm not sure why its a rule. I remember having it called against my high school team several years ago and being a little confused, but I've seen it called in the NFL a few times since then. I think its just so people arent just sticking their hands in the receiver's face to try and block their vision and stuff like that. Understood. I didn't mind the 2nd one so much either, if only because it enabled me to get off the quote of the night to one of my friends I was watching the game with: (This was after the two Caldwell drops) "The only excuse they could have for not calling it is if they ruled it uncatchable because it was thrown to Reche Caldwell."

This could be interesting. Could Quinn/Russell/Johnson end up in Atlanta?

We have a chance to be tied for first and lose to a crappy St. John team. It's going to be a wide open race to the #1 spot for the Garden. ND's just one game out of first right now and don't have to play Pitt :D The bad news is we still haven't won a road game yet and ND goes to the Carrier Dome a week from tomorrow. That could be trouble if the Irish don't take the two games this week like they need to. I just want to get a bye for the first games at MSG because all those games killed us last year. I want to get a bye because it would automatically tie the farthest ND's gotten in that tournament in something like five years. We really don't like MSG.

At least partially because he signed a two-year deal with ESPN.

:roll: Unreal, or the Bulls could put a product out there that was good enough that this wouldn't happen. You think this would have happened when Jordan and Pippen were there? I can't stand how Chicago people don't understand that some people that live in the city want to support the hometown school. If Farmar would have been picked by Utah and then came to play the Clippers and the fans would have screamed for Farmar to come in I am sure you would have took issue with it. UIC? Isn't a 23-17 record going into the game good enough to justify "fans" not starting chants for the opposing players and for Illinois before the game even started? The pro-Bulls chants weren't that loud at any point throughout the game. Even though, ostensibly, the Bulls fans outnumbered the Illini fans. WGN's constant mention of it bugged me a tad too. Yeah, most of your viewers are probably in the Midwest, but supposedly you're a national station, so why are you honking a college team you don't even broadcast games for?