49ers (-3 or so)

I took SanFrancisco(-3.5)overBaltimore.  Then the line tightened up a bit, and I got SanFrancisco(-3)overBaltimore.  If my college hoops betting is any indicator, the 'Niners should be nervous. On the other hand, I'm 5-5 on the NFL Playoffs, including 2-0 on the 49ers.  Could be worse.

And it was worse.  Much worse.  I started off 0-4, with

cincinnati(+5)overHOUSTON
minnesota(+9)overGREENBAY
indianapolis(+7)overBALTIMORE and
WASHINGTON(+3)overseattle

I'm At least Cincy and Washington came close.  I got better from there, with

DENVER(-9)over baltimore
SANFRANCISCO(-3)overgreenbay
seattle(+3)overATLANTA and
NEWENGLAND(-9)overhouston

Seattle had a tremendous comeback to take the lead, before finally losing and covering.  New England let Houston catch up for a likely push, before kicking a mostly meaningless field goal to cover.  I'll take it.

I had

sanfrancisco(-2.5)overATLANTA and
baltimore(+9)overNEWENGLAND.

San Francisco came roaring back to win and cover.  I thought Baltimore(+9) was the easiest pick of the playoffs.  The Pats are capable of covering a big spread like that, but there's no way they should have been favored by more than 4.  Baltimore always plays them tough.

I wonder if I would have had the sense to take the Ravens over Denver if my wildcard weekend hadn't gone so horribly.  Hard to keep taking underdogs after losing with them over and over.

Is what Baltimore has done it the last could of weeks really more impressive than the dismantling of the Packers?  Wouldn't the Packers be favored if they were playing the Ravens?  Whatever.

Anybody who thinks the zone-read will run it's course the way the wildcat did hasn't been paying attention.  The zone read can be difficult to stop even with a fairly inaccurate quarterback, but when you have one who can really throw.  The only thing that is going to slow down these attacks are injuries.  They can still lose any given Sunday, but I wouldn't bet against them.

Have I mentioned that I am sick of ESPN shoving Ray Lewis up my ass over and over again for the last month?  Hopefully this isn't biasing my pick too much.  It's too bad that the media can take any sentimental favorite and beat their story line into the ground so much that you end up rooting against it.  It's a good thing they make deer antler spray and not deer antler suppositories, because Ray Lewis is too full of shit to get one of those things up his ass.  Yeah, I said it.  I'm just waiting around for Wes Welker to get a divorce, so I can move in on the little guy.

I have Colin Kaepernick at 8/5 for Super Bowl MVP.  If he has any kind of big game it will be tough not to give it to him, provided the Niners win.  This bet is a good way to get some money on the 'Niners at more favorable odds than you can get on the game.  I won this way on Aaron Rodgers two years ago, and I know people who had $$ on Peyton Manning before that.  I didn't, because I expected the Saints to win.

Interestingly, you could get 2/1 on Rodgers and Manning.  Goes to show you how important Kaepernick has been to the 'Niners success.  The only other guy I see winning it it Frank Gore, and Gore will only go off if the Ravens completely sell out to stop the QB.