3 out of 4 ain't bad

It's good to see the NFL's wildcard weekend was fairly predictable. Jacksonville was my guarantee; they were obviously the worst AFC team to make the playoffs. They only made it because of their schedule; the Chiefs, Chargers, and maybe even Dolphins (by the end of the year) were better teams. And as I thought, New England manhandled Jacksonville. Pittsburgh is obviously a better team than Cincinnati, and the Bengals acted like a team that hadn't been to the playoffs before. They'll be back next year, but they weren't ready this year. I had to pick Washington to win because my roommate is from Tampa, plus it makes the Chiefs look better, but their offense sure tried to lose the game. However, up in New York, I thought the Giants would pull it out. I was definitely way off the mark there.

Next week is much harder, because in the AFC you actually have four teams that should be in the playoffs, and in the NFC you never know what is real and what is weakness of schedule (you really can't use the term "strength" of schedule). Pittsburgh isn't going to be able to stop Indianapolis, and while the hype machine surrounding the Patriots will be in overdrive this week, that can't change the fact that the Broncos are the best team in the NFL. In the NFC, Chicago is going to play not the 13-3 Seahawks, but rather the 10-6 Redskins to see who goes to the Super Bowl.

It is frustrating, though...how many playoff teams have we beaten this year? Denver, Washington, Cincinnati, and New England; that's three division winners, and three teams that advanced to the Divisional round! Jacksonville, by comparison, hasn't even beaten a team with a winning record in almost three months. The AFC West, clearly the best division in football, only qualified one team because of its strength. Don't even get me started on how ridiculous Seattle's 13-3 mark is. Heck, if the AFC West had simply played the NFC West instead of the NFC East, the best division in the NFC, the Chiefs would have made the playoffs easily. Sigh.

Tieland update: alas, as of today, I have now worn a tie on as many days in 2006 as not. Sigh.

Computer update: my laptop has been showing its age for a while, and I've made it hold out until MacWorld Expo. The Stevenote was today, and now I don't know what to do. Irresistable iMac? Wait a month for the more expensive MacBook? Buy another cheap iBook to last a year or two while Apple works out all the kinks in the Intel transition? Too many choices. Sigh.