On To New Orleans

Now that's a good weekend of football. And no, Eagles kicker David Akers is not having the Heimlich maneuver administered in the picture to the right. That's Akers after kicking the Eagles into the second round of the NFC Playoffs.

The guy that needs the Heimlich would be him.

Akers' kick capped off a great day spent at my brother's house watching that game, as well as the New England victory over the Jets. It was my brother, Rick, a few of his friends, and me. I've had the chance to hang with those guys the last couple of Januarys for football and cards.

I'm not much of a card player. Maybe that's why they always seem so glad to see me. All kidding aside, I actually did pretty good yesterday. I won a few pretzels at the table, and thanks to some top notch handicapping, I made a couple of nickels on the football games, too.

The playoffs are going according to plan. Cowboys out with a humiliating defeat. Eagles knock off the Giants in dramatic fashion. Now we just need an Eagles revenge win at New Orleans on Saturday night, and then the traditional one-and-done for the Bears, and then Philly is hosting the NFC title game on January 21st.

Sports is funny sometimes. Just a month or so ago, I wrote about the sad state of Philly sports which included this bit of wisdom about the Eagles...

The Eagles, who have been one of the top NFL teams this decade, are for the second straight year, dealing with a season ending injury to their quarterback (who also was throwing up in the huddle in a game this season -- the game they lost on a last second 62-yard field goal). So, safe to say I don't hold out a lot of hope for their chances.

Well, safe to say I wasn't the only one with that opinion. No one thought they'd make the run they've made. That's part of the beauty of sports. Six straight wins, the only team remaining from their division, and riding an emotional high thanks to a cinderella run of unexpected playoff success.

Until next week of course, when they'll probably get their butts handed to them by a well-rested Saints team, playing at home where they've already beaten the Eagles this year, and now that our stud cornerback is out with an elbow injur---- ok, ok. I'll settle down now.

Yep, I'm a Philly fan. Confidence schmonfidence.