^^^But can the mighty arms of Atlas hold the heavens from the earth?

Allow me to clarify...what I mean by "tossup" is that I can't decide if it'll be a blowout or a close game. I think New England will win, but I'm not sure by how much...and 13.5 points is a lot to give away to a team with God apparently on its side.

January 10, 1969 Fillmore West. Good, raw Zeppelin. 43 years ago tonight.

That's pretty much game over. Roll Tide. LSU apparently left their game behind in 2011. Patheric display of offense and play calling. No life. No spirit. No smarts. LSU's QB was a joke. Congrats to Alabama.

I'm sure you mean well and thanks for posting, but it is PAGE not Paige...I don't understand why that is so hard for people to remember. Same thing with the Jimmy/Jimi thing. It's not rocket science.

Halftime.

Well, we'll never know. Which is why the NFL remains supreme...their championship is settled on the field. The NCAA is all hypothetical mumbo-jumbo. Anyway...GEAUX LSU TIGERS!!!

Candlestick is not a fun place to play, dazedcat. Throwing the ball around the cozy indoor confines of the Superdome is one thing; passing in the cold swirling winds of Candlestick is another. Pierre Thomas and the Saints running game will play a crucial part. We'll also see if the 49ers defense really is #1. But I'm with you on some of these betting lines...no way, José.

^^^So she's training to be an acupuncturist, eh?

I feel they're better offensively. We've ALREADY seen Alabama-LSU...it's a field goal contest, yawn. Two teams that are stylistically the same makes for an uninteresting matchup. Oklahoma St. versus LSU would have been much more exciting to watch, and since Alabama lost to LSU, Oklahoma St. deserved to take their shot at LSU.

I don't know everyone else's Monday has been, but I'm eating chocolate, reading about Miles Davis and listening to Pink Floyd live in Berlin on the Animals tour, January 29, 1977.

^^^I think you're confusing Oklahoma with Oklahoma St.

Here you go, Kate...and Major Major! Someone just gave these to me as a late Christmas gift.

^^^See's is alright...but they're no Godiva. I've had some Esther Price's...not bad, but not worth shipping all the way out to California. Actually, one regional chocolate I LOVE and forgot to list is Fran's from Seattle. Their sea salt/smoked grey salt chocolate covered caramels are TO DIE FOR!!!

Las Vegas gave Denver the lowest odds of any team in the playoffs of wining the Super Bowl: 1%. A $100 bet on Denver would pay $7,200. I'm staying away from this week's games...too tough to call. I cannot get a handle on any of them...not even Giants @ Green Bay, which theoretically should be a lock for Green Bay, but I see potential hazards for the Packers. Nope, I'm saving my money for the following week...when the AFC and NFC conference champs are played. Before the season, my brother and I always give our picks for who we think will make the Super Bowl. This year, he chose Green Bay and Baltimore, while I picked Green Bay and (foolishly) the NY Jets. Houston did look good...but Baltimore ain't Cincy. Don't think Foster will run on the Ravens like he did the Bengals. Which puts more pressure on rookie QB Yates to throw and handle Baltimore's blitz. This is the only game this weekend that has the potential to be a blowout. SF-New Orleans and New England-Denver are toss-ups. Really, who can predict with certainty what will happen in each game? I was appalled by how Pittsburgh's defense CHOKED in that game last night...more appalling than Atlanta not showing up yet again in a playoff game. And New England's defense isn't near as good as Pittsburgh's. This is usually my favourite weekend of football...4 games (two on each day) usually featuring good teams and good matchups. I'm looking forward to it...and with no bets, I can just enjoy the games without the additional worry of losing money.

^^^You're right FireOpal...they're usually too busy marking Elvis Presley's birthday the day before to pay Jimmy much mind. Thanks for posting that link...I tend to avoid most tv news, so I would've missed that hadn't you posted it.

Well, this is one American who doesn't. For chocolate, it's gotta be Godiva, Cadbury's, Droste, Valrhona, Scharffen Berger, Ghirardelli, Lindt, Ritter Sport, Milka, and various other German, Belgium, and Swiss chocolates. The only mainstream American chocolate candy I'll eat are M & M's, Snickers, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Sad news. I wish him nothing but the best...good luck fighting this disease, Tony!

Reminds me of the Van Halen classic "Beautiful Girls"..."I got a drink in my hand, got my toes in the sand, all I need is a beautiful girl". Or, I guess in your case..."She had her drink in her hand, she had her toes in the sand and whoah! What a beautiful girl! Oh yeah!" I hit the beach myself this past weekend...there was a good swell hitting the Southern California beaches and my head was finally free of the cold that I got New Year's, and that EVERYBODY seems to be getting, haha. Unfortunately, while the cold was gone, my nose still looked like something from a W.C. Fields movie. But hey, it was January, it was warm, and surf was up...who cannot be happy in such circumstances?

College football remains the one sport that follows their great regular season with a comedy of errors "Let's Make a Deal"-type postseason. It was true back in the old bowl days and it still remains susceptible to shenanigans in the BCS era. Wait...I should say Division 1, or FBS College football, because all the other levels of college football, along with all other NCAA college sports, crown a TRUE champion with a playoff system. Thanks to the craven greed and hypocrisy of the college presidents, boosters and the television networks, we won't be getting a playoff for major college football soon. My point about Oklahoma St. was that they were the only one-loss team whose loss should've come with an asterisk. Stanford lost AT HOME to Oregon, who lost AT HOME to USC. Alabama lost already to LSU, fair and square. Oklahoma St. lost in double-overtime, on the road, on the VERY DAY that they learned of the tragic plane crash that killed 2 members of Oklahoma St.'s basketball team. Of all the one-loss teams, they were the ones most deserving of a spot in the title game against LSU. We know already how great LSU's defense plays against offensively-deficient teams like Alabama and the SEC. It would have been interesting to see LSU go up against a viable offense like OK St.

GEAUX TIGERS!!! Personally, I think Oklahoma St. got screwed. I would have preferred seeing Oklahoma St. versus LSU in the BS game...and I think most people outside Alabama agree.

Happy Birthday to the Paganini of the fretboard, Mr. James Patrick Page! I'm sure you'll enjoy your Celebration Day! The best birthday gift would be some new music...I still have hope. Back in the 1970s not many of us thought Jimmy would make it past the 80s, so it's kind of a marvel that he(and Keef!) are still with us. Light your candles...make a wish...hope it comes true for you. Birthday cheers, dear sir!

I'm not buying the fact that Jimmy Page doesn't know scales. I think he was taking the piss. Hell, considering that interview was from 1977, when there was a good chance Jimmy was loaded on horse, anything from that interview should be viewed with a grain of salt. I think Jimmy was feeding the mystique...and by saying he couldn't play scales, I think what he meant was that he DID know scales, he just didn't like the tedium of sitting down and playing them over and over.

^^^I basically broke even this weekend...bet a total of $200 and won $210. I'll probably take a pass next weekend and wait until I see how the Conference Championship matchups shake out. There's going for it on 4th down smartly and then there's going for it the Atlanta way. I've been watching football for decades now, and I can tell you that the majority of the 4th and short attempts that work are the ones where the QB walks up to the center and IMMEDIATELY the center snaps the ball and the center and qb charge ahead as one. You catch the defense by surprise, not letting them get set. Oftentimes, it'll happen so quickly the rest of the offensive line won't even move either. So when Atlanta went for it in the 1st QTR and spent the majority of the play clock dithering around, changing formations and being silly, I KNEW the Giants would stuff them. All that dicking around by Atlanta had allowed the Giants defense to dig in. Then that lame-ass attempt Atlanta tried in the 2nd half? When you line-up with nobody in the backfield, then the defense pretty much knows the QB is going to be running the ball. The odds are against the QB getting the first down trying to plunge ahead. With no running back to key on, the defense is able to crowd the line of scrimmage in anticipation of the QB taking the snap and diving ahead. Now, most smart coaches realize this, and in response they would call a rollout bootleg or a pass play, catching the defense by surprise. Instead, Atlanta called and exucuted two of the lamest and predictable 4th and short attempts in history. To nobody's surprise, they failed. Atlanta is starting to look like one of those teams that look good in the regular season, then choke and fold in the playoffs. Just like the Eagles. Pittsburgh's time might be at an end...Roethlisburger, Polamalu, and many others are 10 year + veterans and I firmly believe a player only has 10 prime years in the NFL before age and injuries take a toll. The Steelers can still be good, but it's going to take an infusion of fresh young talent before they're Super Bowl ready again.

^^^7-2 Giants at the half...you certainly can't call that Madden football, dazedcat...a far cry from last night's Saints-Lions game. In fact, that Saints game was more an anomaly in the playoffs. This Atlanta-NY game is low-scoring...the Pitt-Denver game will be low-scoring. And scoring will be infrequent at next week's Houston @ Baltimore and New Orleans @ San Francisco games. New Orleans' offense won't fly as high at the cold, windy confines of Candlestick Park, where playoff dreams often die. Wow, LedZeppFan77, you REALLY HATE the Giants, don't you...they're not even in your division. Or even your confe...oh, wait, nevermind. I know why. Wide right...right? God, I lost a lot of money on that game. It pissed me off so much, I didn't bet on the NFL for years and years...not until the Denver-Green Bay Super Bowl. As much as you hate the Giants, LZF77, I hate the Chargers, so it gave me no small amount of schadenfreude to see two players the Chargers let go, Drew Brees and Darren Sproles, wreak havoc on the Lions while San Diego didn't even make the playoffs. How's that decision working out for you, Sn Diego? See the Raiders got Green Bay's GM to replace the late Al Davis. Don't know much about the guy, but considering Green Bay has been one of the stablest franchises around, and they definitely made the right call on the Brett Favre vs. Aaron Rodgers matter, I have to take it as a positive sign.