The Diary of a Fantasy Virgin - Week 18 Timothy Davoll, Fantasy Football Staff Writer Jan 9, 2004 | More

We are now in the real meat and bones of the season.  The current format has been like this since 1990.  If you go to nfl.com and look at the history of the playoffs, you will find that in 1989, there were two Wild Card games.  In 1990, the number was doubled to four Wild Card games. 

I Will Have The Number 1 or Number 2 --- SuperSized!

A look at the stats shows that the final NFL game of the year has had the number 1 or number 2 seed since 2001.  Baltimore came out of the Wild Card Playoffs to defeat the Giants in 2000.  Tennessee did the same in 1999 but then lost to St. Louis with that game saving tackle near the goal line on the last play of the game.  I guess this means it is unlikely a Wild Card team will come through.  Although that Indianapolis sure did look pretty in that hurried up offense of theirs.  I went 3-1 over the Wild Card weekend and that Tennessee Baltimore game was a toss-up. 

What New Year’s Resolution?

Throw another shrimp on the barbee mate because it is food time.  Just as you promised less than 10 days ago that this would be the year to drop 20 lbs along comes the second weekend of the football playoffs.  The first weekend was easy, you solved that dilemma by seeing Lord of the Rings…twice!  But this weekend, it will not seem to matter that your team is already out.  It could be your team or your friends’ team or your roommate from college’s team or even the next-door neighbor you seldom talk to but see at the mailbox’s team.  This will involve grilling and drinking responsibly.  There are no rules against drinking and grilling and the grills will be going in New England even if it is 0 degrees  Fahrenheit out.  For my friends in Sweden, that is like – 17.7 degrees Celsius!  Holy Schnikees…but yet the grill will be cooking up wings and party favors and that snapping sound you hear this weekend will be the broken food promises made only a few precious days earlier combined with ½ of the fans’ broken hearts mourning for their team that lost.  Somehow, the final four in football will bring you back, you just wait.

Divisional Weekend

There is a just too much damn excitement this weekend.  Three thrilling games and an intriguing match up.  Let us go with the match up first.  Look for St. Louis to dominate at home in the playoffs and as long as they do not make mistakes, watch them continue on.  New England is awesome in the barren elements but Tennessee is playing with intensity.  Watch how New England plays as a team and grits out a victory over very talented but not bulletproof Titan defense.  Then the most impressive offensive game of the week has to be Indianapolis at Kansas City.  How many points will be scored in this shootout?  Look for Indianapolis in a shocker 50-47!  Then the heartstring game has to be Green Bay at Philadelphia.  Who wants to see either of these quality quarterbacks go home early?  It is just awful but look for Philly to take that slipper off of Green Bay’s big toe.  Have a nice weekend and remember that stuffing your cakehole with wings, butter, shrimp, red meat, and chicken in copious quantities can be construed as a low-carb Atkins festivus.  So the diet lives on!   Talk about how you are lowering your triglycerides while avoiding refined sugars and this will help your cause.   And by all means hide the beer and other carbs in the bottom drawer of the fridge in the garage, ok? 

Master D.