NFL playoffs and related digressions

My order of preference for the teams remaining in the NFL playoffs:

1. Green Bay Packers

I like their QB Aaron Rodgers a lot. He's always smiling, helping up defenders, and I think he handled the difficult position of taking over for Brett Favre as well as possible (unlike Favre who acted like an ass). Rodgers can also play a little. Witness his last game ( playoff win over Falcons in Atlanta): 31 for 36, 366 yards, 3 TDs (plus rushed for another), 0 INT. If a certain tall long-haired UGGs-wearing QB keeps underperforming in the playoffs he is going to lose his spot on my man-crush list to Rodgers. In fact, he's already loaning it to Rodgers. Rodgers is a Cal Bear, but I don't hold that against him. Grace (B.S. from Cal) and I (Ph.D. from Stanford) have a friendly Stanford-Cal rivalry, but Grace takes it more seriously than I do (undergrad and grad school loyalties are different). Some of my good friends went to Cal (Grace and her younger brother Greg, Jon Burke, Vandy, Larry Schadt, etc.) and I root for Cal against most other teams besides Stanford and now U. of Washington. Grace, on the other hand, finds it hard to root for Stanford under any circumstances, even in their awesome Orange Bowl 40-12 rout of Virginia Tech and even though I and her older sister Gigi went there. Speaking of Stanford football, their star QB Andrew Luck (second in the Heisman Trophy voting) decided to return for another season to finish his degree in architectural design (3.5 GPA). I doubt he will win the Heisman next year because the team probably won't be as good (lots of players graduated, especially on their excellent offensive line) and so his stats will suffer (a la Jake Locker) but he will still be the #1 pick in the 2012 NFL draft, barring injury (related story: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2010/10/28/stanford-football-among-top-ncaa-graduation-scores/). Stanford's coach Jim Harbaugh did bolt for the NFL, specifically the SF 49ers, about which I am unhappy as a Stanford fan but happy as a 49ers fan. I wouldn't be too unhappy if the 49ers lost all their games next season to get Luck in the draft, although that might get Harbaugh fired before they could be reunited.

The Berkeley hyper-liberal scene is easily mockable, but it beats the Hoover Institution at Stanford. Still, there's no doubt where I would rather Seth or Miles go, if they could get in. But to get accepted as an undergrad to Stanford these days it seems you need a 4.0 GPA as well as starting your own company and selling it for millions which you donate to charity to focus on the Olympic trials. And even then it's a crapshoot.

But back to the Packers. As a socialist of sorts, raised and residing in small cities (Portland ME and Bellingham WA), I gotta love a non-profit community-owned franchise in a city of just over 100,000 (metro area around 300,000 - next smallest NFL metro area: Buffalo at 1.1 million). My dad's family is from Wisconsin (Neenah-Menasha area) and he was born there (in Marinette) before moving to Colorado Springs around age 6. Lynn's family is also from Wisconsin (Madison-Middleton). My friend Troy taught at UW-Green Bay before WWU.

The major downside of the Packers on TV: more shots of linebacker Clay Matthews's gross long hair: http://oplions.blogspot.com/2010/10/clay-matthews-could-have-been-drafted.html

2. Chicago Bears

My sister Rachel lived in Chicago for about 10 years (Ph.D. University of Chicago in art history) and became a Bears fan, although she has stopped following sports now (they've taken a back seat to her two sons). Lynn's dad Dave Coakley is a Bears fan, despite living in Wisconsin. "Da Bears" is fun to say. I'm over the Bears' 46-10 beating of the Patriots in the 1986 Super Bowl (three subsequent Patriot Super Bowl wins will do that - although the last one was in 2005 and I'm getting impatient for another).

I don't like the Bears QB Jay Cutler, who is petulant, pouty, and inconsistent - although when he's hot he can be very good. Their speedy kick returner/receiver Devin Hester is exciting to watch. Their star veteran linebacker Brian Urlacher seems like a stand-up guy and I approve of his hairstyle: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/photos?photoId=2797481&playerId=2140

3. Pittsburgh Steelers

The Patriots and Steelers have a bit of a rivalry, as successful AFC teams in recent years, which makes me dislike the Steelers. My mom's family is from northwestern Pennsylvania (Erie area), which is mostly Steeler country, although also close to Cleveland and Buffalo. The Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger went to Miami of Ohio, which produces pro athletes with hard-to-spell last names (cf. Wally Szczerbiak), and where my former masters student Joel Gaffney is getting his Ph.D. in child clinical psychology. The Steelers star safety Troy Polamalu has long hair but in his case I think it looks pretty cool: http://www.mashedreport.com/2010/08/31/hair-of-pittsburgh-steele_m_000881.php

4. New York Jets

The Jets are my least-favorite NFL team. With the Patriots' playoff loss to the Jets last week, we will have to endure the yapping of their loudmouth coach (Fatty McFootfetish), players, and fans for at least another year. Ugh.

Ethan