Game Thread, Super Bowl XLIII: Arizona Cardinals

Smokey, my friend, you are entering a world of pain.

Waitin' till 6:30

Feel free to use this thread to talk about anything that happens in the eight hours of pregame coverage. I'll put up the game thread around 6:15 PM ET.

Longest Week Ever

God, the wait is brutal. I actually taped NFL Network's eight hours of coverage yesterday and fast-forwarded through, well, eight hours of it.

Just a thought from someone who doesn't know anything about producing live teevee shows: DON'T LET EVERYBODY SCREAM AT THE SAME TIME. Seriously, Warren Sapp was actually more useless than usual because he just talked over everyone. Learned a lot there.

In less angry news: I talked to Matt Ryan yesterday and he was both swell and smart.

And a little something to get you pumped up, courtesy of ELSM (Ugh. When ELSM e-mailed me the pic below, it was animated. Now, not so much. I blame Blogger. Either way, you'll have to pretend there's a waving Terrible Towel. You feel pumped, right? Right?!):

Go

Before we're all beat about the head with mindless, non-stop Super Bowl coverage, here's a look back at a simpler time. A time when the jerk who writes this blog actually used to, you know, write: the 2005 season, through the unbiased prism of HSS. Good times, indeed.

And if you're looking for more stuff to point and gawk at, here ya go.

One more thing: I have no idea who thinks the BCS is a swell idea (other than those guys getting rich off it), but here's something else to keep you from doing any work today.

You Are Still Cleveland to Us and You Still Stink

Thanks to pr9000 for sending me the link to this gem. Carry on.

Troy Might Make Something of Himself

(via PPG)

Two things:

* First, I had a couple people send me this pic, but with the explicit instructions not to post till after the game.

* Second, I'm not gonna lie: I was pretty uptight when the Ravens had the ball with six minutes to go. Right up until Troy Polamalu, like he seemingly always does, took over.

Game Thread, AFC Conference Championship: Baltimore Ravens

Go time, peeps. (And just in case: by the power of Kyle Boller, I compel thee...)

Killin' Time, AFCC Weekend

Just something to take your mind off Raven-Steelers, Part Tres.

I'll put up the AFCC thread around 6:00 PM EST.

Didn't See This Coming

I suppose we should move on to the Cowboys game (and by "we" I mean "me"), but just one more thing: this is freaking unbelievable. Mike Pereira will now disappear without a trace.

In My Professional Opinion, Big Ben Needs a Reverse Lobotomy

I'm open to suggestions on how to fix things. Ben continues to be maddening in his play, and I'll assume he's hurt and just trying to tough it out. Um, don't. Also, when offering your solutions, "the o-line needs to pass block better" isn't acceptable. The past month or so, the offensive line has been adequate, maybe better.

For me, this is 90 percent Ben. I'll willingly reconsider if anybody can make a convincing case why Mitch Berger and his two bad hammy's are the reason for Pittsburgh's current predicament.