Baily's Sports & Stuff

I'll try to keep this short - the NFL experience is calling my name. There are field goals to be kicked, mock broadcasts with ex-NFL quarterbacks for me to get to, NFL facts to memorize, and revenge on my mother, to be had. She beat me in the QB target competition yesterday, although all 3 of mine were inches away and she just happened to hit one of them even with terrible form, so I'm not too pressed about it or emasculated by it. I write this post short walk away from Allegiant Stadium, home of Super Bowl 58. I've spent my week immersing myself in the history of this beautiful game, getting more juiced than ever for my 19th Super Bowl (that I've watched live). After many many many hours of a Wikipedia / NFL Throwback / Sporcle diet when I was supposed to be at work (and many more instances of this throughout childhood / adulthood), I think I can name every Super Bowl score, location, first play safety against the Broncos, MVP, power outage, quarterback, nip slip, coac...

Screenwriter Goodell has done it again! It's admittedly not the script I saw written in the stars - or rather in the combination of the NFL's Super Bowl logo and a Memphis radio station's (now) false advertising. The best explanation is that not even Goodell could have foreseen the Taylor Swift effect - and called in the cast midseason to push the Chiefs' Super Bowl hangover back one more year at Baltimore's expense. When the Harbaugh family threatened to sue, he called in a favor to the NCAA - and Jalen Milroe - to have Jim pocket the family's due 2023 ring. And then, to give big bro the upper hand, inflicted Jim with the worst curse in all of sports - that of the LA Chargers. Equilibrium is restored. It looked like the revised script was about to bring the 49ers down too in favor of the bookended schedule Super Bowl that Jake Marsh wanted to see so badly - the same kickoff game and championship game matchup. The thought crossed my mind as a minor consolation i...

I'm gonna start with Baltimore and Kansas City, because I actually might have more to say on this topic than on my beloved 49ers. There are a number of nerd nuggets (thanks to Jake Marsh from Pardon My Take) that absolutely astound me when it comes to this game. Theme 1: Patrick Mahomes Mahomes has more playoff wins than Aaron Rodgers. He has as many as Brett Favre and Big Ben. If he wins Super Bowl 58, he will not only break the curse of the Super Bowl logo, but he will also pass the likes of Peyton Manning and Steve Young to reach 3rd all time in playoff wins. He's 28! This is the first time Kansas City hasn't hosted the AFC Championship Game since 2017! The Chiefs will have played five opponents - New England, Tennessee, Buffalo, Cincinnati, and now Baltimore, in those six years. New England rattled off seven straight appearances from 2011-2017 and won four. Mahomes has already won three. Mahomes, as a starter, has never not been to the AFC Championship Game before. Sinc...

Since the mid-1950s, economic hardship and athletic heartbreak have had an eerily strong correlation in Cleveland...so much so that one may even wonder if correlation equals causation.  The phrase "pessimistic city" was used in the 30 for 30 "Believeland" more than once to describe the mistake on the lake, bereaveland, grieveland, you name it. Believeland it or not, a moniker that could be credibly used to describe the city in 1955 was "the best location in the nation". The Browns had made 10 consecutive title games (winning 7), the then-Indians were a few years removed from baseball glory, and the city had twice as many Fortune 500 companies as San Francisco and Los Angeles...combined. The Cavs weren't around yet. We'll get to them later. But an exodus to suburbia, loss of industrial jobs, and the rising tensions that accommodated this pain quickly began to scar the city's psyche. In 1978, Cleveland became the first major city to default on it...

I've recently gotten captivated by the practice of journaling - generally on my own thoughts that I notice and how I feel at various moments. This has been a transformative practice in my personal life in enabling me to be more honest with myself (which is really hard!) - whether that be about discomfort I feel, what conditions provide a state of flow, or anything in between. The ability to document my life on paper - and go back and read what resonated with me at a particular point in time - has been a similarly great practice for me. Recently, the excitement of playoff football and midseason basketball has led to me pursuing a similar practice in my personal journal - airing out thoughts on sports ranging from stats I've tried to memorize to my (often unwanted) psychological analysis on a given athlete / situation. I love the process of putting pen to paper, and plan to continue this in my personal life.  But when it comes to sports, I had the thought that maybe there's n...

After going 3 of 4 last week (thanks, Chicago), I'm feeling pretty confident about my picks for the upcoming weekend. The Wild Card round saw three of the four road teams emerge victorious, and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw somewhat similar results this week. Nonetheless, I expect one of the most exciting football weekends in recent memory. Colts at Chiefs The top-seeded Chiefs got somewhat unlucky with this matchup. The Colts are playing strong defense, Andrew Luck has done so much with not a whole lot of talent around him, and, most importantly, they are winning up front. Guard Quenton Nelson is winning them football games, and Marlon Mack's 148-yard rushing performance was outstanding against a strong Houston defense. But for whatever reason, I just don't see Andy Reid blowing this one. The Colts are a strong team, and they're playing phenomenally as of late, but they haven't seen an offense like the Chiefs. A team like the Bears, with the best defe...

If you were cheering for a blue and white team that started with the letter "C", you probably are going to sleep satisfied with today's games. The Killer C's, the Colts and Cowboys, both played hard-nosed, smashmouth football to pick up victories over the Texans and Seahawks. Colts 21, Texans 7 Indianapolis completely dominated Houston from the get-go. T.Y. Hilton had 63 receiving yards on the opening drive before Andrew Luck, playing in his first playoff game in four years, found Eric Ebron for a touchdown. The Colts marched down the field all day long, with Marlon Mack's 148 yards highlighting a stellar offensive effort. The score, a modest 21-7, doesn't highlight how dominant Indianapolis was on offense. Luck threw an interception on a deflected screen pass, but otherwise, the Colts controlled the clock and the game. That interception flipped the momentum and gave Houston a shot down 14-0. But the Colts got the ball right back, scored on a touchdown p...

As I said in my Wild Card post , this is the first time in a while that we have such a level playing field in the postseason. The New Orleans Saints are probably the Super Bowl favorite, but it wouldn't be crazy to see any one of the 36 possible Super Bowl matchups. Here's the current playoff field: AFC: 1. Kansas City Chiefs 2. New England Patriots 3. Houston Texans 4. Baltimore Ravens 5. Los Angeles Chargers 6. Indianapolis Colts NFC: 1. New Orleans Saints 2. Los Angeles Rams 3. Chicago Bears 4. Dallas Cowboys 5. Seattle Seahawks 6. Philadelphia Eagles Wild Card Weekend is set for Saturday and Sunday, and my picks are up  for those four games. Assuming my picks are correct, that would give us these four matchups for the Divisional Round: 6. Indianapolis at 1. Kansas City 5. Los Angeles Chargers at 2. New England 4. Dallas at 1. New Orleans 3. Chicago at 2. Los Angeles Rams The way the playoff bracket works is that the lowest remaining seed will a...

I haven't been this excited for the NFL playoffs in a long time. For the first time in at least five years, all 12 teams can legitimately win this year's Super Bowl. Everyone knew the Bills and Titans were never going to win it all last year. Neither were the 2016 Raiders with third-string quarterback Connor Cook at the helm. Injuries and random luck struck the past few years, but not this year. Both six seeds (the Colts and the Eagles) are hot at the right time and dangerous. Both 4 seeds (often the weakest team since a bad team can win a mediocre division) are backed by solid defenses. We used to see a lot of Wild Card teams wreck havoc in the postseason. The 2007 Giants and 2010 Packers were both Wild Card teams, and the 2011 Giants and 2012 Ravens were both 4 seeds that played on Wild Card weekend. Amazingly, the last five Super Bowl champions have been number one overall seeds, and every single Super Bowl participant in the last five years earned a first-round bye. I...

I'm a little salty as I write this thanks to a series of unfortunate events causing me to miss the fantasy football playoffs, but I'll try to put my bias aside and recap an exciting week of football. The best game of the week came on Sunday night, with three consecutive offsides penalties on the Steelers (three!) gifting the Los Angeles Chargers a key AFC victory. With that win, the Chargers, at 9-3, are very likely to make the postseason, although they still have tough games ahead against the Ravens, Chiefs, and Broncos. If they lose all three, they could find themselves on the outside looking in. But this win was huge for Los Angeles, as Philip Rivers stepped up in Melvin Gordon's absence to deliver a critical victory. The Chiefs, Patriots, and Texans all won, with New England looking particularly sharp on defense against Kirk Cousins and the mediocre Minnesota Vikings. As it stands, New England and Houston are threats to take the top seed in the AFC. The Texans are o...

The future of the NFL was on full display last night, with the Chiefs and Rams squaring off in one of the most exciting games in NFL history. The Chiefs became the first team in NFL history to put up 50 points...and lose. The Rams won 54-51 in what many are calling a Super Bowl preview. Do I think the game will be a Super Bowl preview? Absolutely not. Neither team has the defense to win games in January. Both teams abandoned the run game, as Kareem Hunt and Todd Gurley combined to contribute 6 of the game's 105 points. Sure, the offenses played well. But the game was sloppy and turnovers were plentiful. The Real Super Bowl Favorite Once again, the New Orleans Saints, who dethroned last year's champion Philadelphia Eagles 48-7, look unstoppable. The game was shocking to me, as Carson Wentz played horribly and the now 4-6 Eagles looked completely lost. Meanwhile, New Orleans broke the 45-point threshold for the third week in a row, spreading the love to Michael Thoma...

Atlanta 23, Dallas 20 Both teams need this game badly. At 4-5, the loser is going to have incredibly long odds to make the postseason. Home-field advantage and better offensive production gives Atlanta the edge in a tight game. Carolina 35, Detroit 14 After getting thrashed in the Steel City last week, Cam Newton continues his MVP season against the crumbling Lions. Carolina will get back on track. Indianapolis 24, Tennessee 23 The Titans have lost four games, and only one of those losses came at the hands of a team with a winning record. In a game Tennessee should win, the inefficient offense will catch up to them. Andrew Luck wills his way to a heroic and unexpected home victory to keep the Colts rolling. Tampa Bay 27, New York Giants 20 Ryan Fitzpatrick will throw for a lot of yards against a depleted Giants team, and, while his turnovers will keep New York in the game, Tampa Bay is the better team. Saquon Barkley and Odell Beckham Jr. aren't enough. Houston 20, ...

Seattle rallied from an 11-point deficit to defeat Green Bay 27-24, keeping its playoff hopes well alive while casting a cloud of doubt around Green Bay's. Game Recap Aaron Rodgers and the Packers started Thursday night's contest in Seattle about as well as they possibly could have by forcing a Chris Carson fumble on the first snap of the game before scoring on an Aaron Jones run a few plays later. After surrendering a Seattle field goal, Rodgers made an incredible throw on the run, finding Robert Tonyan (who?) for a 54-yard touchdown. But the Seahawks climbed back into the game with a Russell Wilson touchdown pass and a Carson run, taking the lead late in the second quarter. Rodgers responded with a touchdown pass to Aaron Jones, but after trading field goals, it was Wilson who got the last laugh. He threw a beautiful pass to Ed Dickson on an "uncovered" concept my high school team used to run. No linebacker or safety was remotely close to Dickson off the lin...

The New England Patriots lost, so Week 10 was a great week to be an NFL fan. However, while the Patriots lost, the other top dogs of the NFL prevailed. The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams finally emerged victorious in ugly games, while the New Orleans Saints staked their claim as the kings of the NFL. NFC Overview The Saints stomped the 5-3 Cincinnati Bengals 51-14 to retain the top spot in the NFC. Drew Brees broke Brett Favre's mark of 508 career touchdown passes, putting himself in second place all time in career passing touchdowns. He threw three and ran for one on Sunday. If you have someone on that New Orleans offense, consider yourself lucky. Ingram, Kamara, Brees and Thomas all put up phenomenal fantasy numbers. Ingram broke 100 yards rushing and caught a touchdown, Thomas caught two touchdowns, and Kamara ran for two. The Saints didn't have Dez Bryant, but they clearly didn't miss him. The Saints are still technology a half-game behind the Rams, who...

From second grade to 10th grade, I used sportswriting as a way to keep myself busy after school and as something I could devote my overwhelming energy to. This blog was what excited me more than anything as a kid, but as I got into high school and faced a demanding schedule, I stopped prioritizing this interest and essentially stopped altogether. I would occasionally write an article about sports for my school newspaper, but my passion was no longer the same as I was so caught up in the day-to-day pressure of being a high school student. Now that I'm off in college, however, I've had some time to reflect on what I truly love as I try to find a passion that I can devote a lot of my time to. I've found myself with a lot of spare time and lacking something that makes me truly excited. I was talking to my girlfriend about this, who told me I should start writing for this blog again because I loved it so much when I was a kid. I first dismissed the idea as childish and pointl...

If you would like to continue reading my posts, check me out at Bleacher Report, Golden Gate Sports, or Hoops Habit. Bleacher Report is the nation's fourth-largest sports website, and it has great articles. I have surpassed 656,000 reads for Bleacher Report alone. Golden Gate Sports is a smaller blog, as it covers just Bay Area sports. However, over 108,000 views were accumulated from Monday, March 11, 2013-Sunday, March 17, 2013. The blog has game recaps and previews of all games, as well as live blogs. With St. Mary's and Cal gearing up for March Madness games, Golden Gate Sports is a great place to go for analysis. The NFL offseason has also been covered in great detail, as there have been updates for all free agency news. If you want to read anything about the Giants, 49ers, Raiders, A's, Warriors, Sharks, Cal, Stanford, St. Mary's, San Francisco (college), Santa Clara, and even the San Francisco Bulls, go to Golden Gate Sports. Hoops Habit is also smaller, but ...

In 2010, a team with Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell in the middle of the order won the World Series. Now, in 2012, that same team has Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence in the middle of the order. Oh, and they've got some pretty good pitching too. San Francisco managed to win the World Series in 2010 despite a lack of offense and experience. Edgar Renteria hit a three-run home run in Game 5 of the World Series to power the  Giants  to their first championship since moving to San Francisco. And now, that same team is trying to do it again. During the first half of the season, the Giants had lots of trouble on offense and bringing in runners in scoring position. However, after the All-Star break, San Francisco leads the league in batting average with runners in scoring position. And, thanks to Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval, Marco Scutaro, Angel Pagan and others, the Giants are in the top half of the league in runs scored. Ryan Vo...