Playoff Football

I watched the two NFL playoff games yesterday, and I must say the score was Kristen Chenoweth 52, Steven Tyler 0. How could anyone have thought it a good idea to get Steven Tyler to sing our national anthem in front of the first game between the Ravens and Patriots? Must have been a Raven, because he sounded much more like a raven than a songbird. Sorry, Aerosmith fans, the man may be able to scream heavy metal lyrics, but he can’t sing anything else, especially not the national anthem. Of all the folks who have ever been invited to sing on national television for one sporting event or another, Tyler was the worst. And there have been a bunch of really bad ones. Now back to the football. The Ravens should at least have gotten the game to overtime, but the kicker pulled a chip shot left in the closing seconds to give it to the Pats. Although it wasn’t the Super Bowl, it was important enough that kicker Billy Cundiff will never live it down. Reminds me of another kicker who missed a similar chip shot in Super Bowl XXV when the Bills lost to the Giants 20-19. Oh, the pain. Scott Norwood, wherever he was relocated in the Witness Protection Program, is a name Bills fans will always remember as "Wide Right Norwood," will always remember with a shudder. Another who will be shunned by fans and fellow players for quite a while: Kyle Williams, the 49ers punt returner who let a punt bounce off his knee in the fourth quarter. Any punt returner knows if he isn't going to catch the ball, knows he must get the hell away from it. But Kyle didn't. The Giants recovered and scored a touchdown to go ahead by three. Then the 49ers managed a field goal to tie it in regulation. But in overtime, the 49ers held the Giants on their first possession, made them punt it away, and Kyle Williams coughed it up around the twenty-yard line to allow the Giants to kick a field goal to win it 20-17. Welcome to the Witness Protection Program, Kyle. I’ll be glad when this season is finally over. I’m like a football addict who has to watch it all, even though he doesn’t give a rat’s ass which team wins. One game to go. Good. Then I can start looking forward to next season. Come on, you Cardinals!