NFL Divisional Semifinals (1/14-15/12)

In last week's wild card weekend, we saw pure dominance by the Saints, amazing defense by the Giants, a sign the Texans are for real and another miracle Tebow comeback by the Broncos. Now it's time for the next round an see what happens.

While I never officially wrote it done, I was 4-0 in picks last week. I did seriously pick the Broncos despite everything. So this week, let's make these picks official.

Saturday games first.

New Orleans Saints at San Fransisco 49ers

The 49ers are probably one of the ugliest teams in the league this season. I say that not because of the players but by HOW they win their games. They never score touchdowns, they even settle for field goals when they should go into the end zone. This is because they have an awesome defense. The problem with that is the Saints have one of the best offenses in the league. While I don't want the Saints to win, I just can't see San Fran pulling this one off. I hope I'm wrong.

Score: Saints 41-49ers 12

Denver Broncos at New England Patriots

Tebow vs. Brady is getting prime time. That's just how it should be. This game can go one of two ways. It could be a mega shootout or a defensive struggle. Based on the previous encounter of these two teams, it will be the former. Honestly, I see this being a very back and forth contest. The real question is can Tebow lead his team to another Cinderella victory? I say...

Yes.

Score: Broncos 38-Patriots 35

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens

The Texans have been a very surprising team this year. At this point they are playing with house money. The Ravens on the other hand have shown that they are still an elite franchise. Just being serious, I don't even care about this game and I'll be at the Admirals game when it's happening. With that being said...

Score: Ravens 31-Texans 15

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers

The game of the weekend. Manning vs. Rodgers. This could be a shootout. It also helps that these are my two teams. Now to the keys. For the Giants to win they have the run the ball, control the clock and keep he ball out of Roders' hands as long as possible. The Pack do not have a good defensive line so they have to take advantage of that. For the Packers to win they have to dominate at every turn and cause turnovers. At the end of the day it will come down to which team has the ball last, just like last game.

(This is going to piss some people off.)

Score: Giants 35-Packers 32

Returning to Action

Well back in June, I signed out of this blog with no regrets and no thoughts of returning to it.

Now it's 2012 and I've decided to return to blogging in general and take this pop culture blog out of retirement. But with some changes.

1st of all, there will be no TV show recaps. They take up too much time and honestly some weeks I just don't have time to watch shows on time. So that will be that.

What I will be doing is occasional thoughts and opinions on stuff, like say American Idol, The Voice, etc. Most of which will be closer to the end of the TV seasons.

#2, on the sports front, there will be no predicition thread where all I do is pick a team or a series. When I do write predictions, they will be detailed with full explaination.This will start with my soon to be written post about the the NFL Semifinals this weekend.

#3, no more random awards picks, I know they don't get read. But that doesn't mean that occasionally, depending on the award show, I won't do a detailed prediction blog, especially if it's something I'm passionate about.

I think that's it.

I hope you enjoy this like you did last year. I hope it gets the hits it did last year.

Thank you for reading.

---Blake

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs-Stanley Cup Finals (Results)

Stanley Cup Finals

#1 Vancouver vs. #3 Boston

Pick:Boston in 6
Results: 4-3 Boston

AHL Calder Cup Playoffs-Calder Cup Finals (Results)

Binghamton vs. Houston

Pick: Houston in 6
Results: 4-2 Binghamton

Future of This Blog: Open Letter

382 days and 303 posts ago I opened this blog with an idea. Inspired by the writers of Entertainment Weekly and other bloggers, I'd write my own pop culture blog. When it started, I was honsetly looking for something to do to kill time at work. It turned out to be alot of fun, and within a few months I started getting alot of hits. This success went to my head and I started to add more shows than ever. The problem ended up being that I'm one person, I'm a busy man with a wife and a son and I started to realize I can't handle doing this anymore.

After the spring television season ended, I had two choices.

#1, finishing keeping track of Tough Enough and The Voice and the hockey playoffs and take the summer off and recoop and refresh and come back in the fall when/if football season starts.

#2, finish up the playoffs, and then be done with this blog.

After much though, I am taking option #2. It's time to put this blog on the backburnner. It's time to enjoy TV as a viewer not a reviewer. It'll be nice to watch TV and not take notes on performances and whatnot.

So after the Calder Cup and Stanley Cup Finals are over, those will be my last posts.

If you are a regular reader, thank you. If you aren't, thank you anyway.

This has been alot of fun and a crazy last year. It's been a experience and a life lesson learned.

Thank you for taking time to read this. It means alot.

So for the last time (well just about),
I'm signing out.
---Blake

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs-Stanley Cup Finals (Pick)

Stanley Cup Finals

#1 Vancouver vs. #3 Boston

Pick:Boston in 6

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs-Conference Finals (Results)

Eastern Conference

#3 Boston  vs. #5 Tampa Bay

Pick: Boston in 6

Results: 4-3 Boston

Western Conference

#1 Vancouver  vs. #2 San Jose

Pick: Vancouver in 6

Results: 4-1 Vancouver