Ron Artest Ejected For.......Being Ron Artest

There's no crying in baseball, and ever since Ron Artest went berserk on a fan, no fighting in basketball, even if by fighting you mean pushing, and by pushing you mean jersey grabbing. Also I'm pretty sure Blake Griffin gets ejected for walking away from "the fight".

Primetime Gets Giddy Off of Theisman Slip

Rubber Meets Road Today in Pro Playoff Poker

Wild Card weekend is but a memory and the stage is now set for four playoff games which will go a long way to determining SmackJabber's inaugural Pro Playoff Poker Champion. Today at 4:30, the AFC Divisional Round gets under way as the Steelers host the Ravens, who are coming off of a 30-7 road demolishment of upstart Kansas City. And tonight at 8, Green Bay also looks for a 2nd straight road playoff win as the Packers travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons. The conference title matchups will be finalized tomorrow when the Bears host the surprising Seahawks (1pm) and Super Bowl favorite New England welcomes the Jets (4:30pm).

The Jets and Seahawks dashed many a contestants' dreams last week, not the least of which were aarnn, dmurph and kenscrx, who sit with just 2 points overall and a dreaded Queen in danger of advancing from every divisional round game. On the opposite end of the spectrum, lifted99 and patdownes lead the pack with 14 points.

Looking forward, the only result this weekend that matters to lifted99 (whose maximum score stands at 32) is a New England win over the Jets. From there, he will continue to root for an AA Super Bowl, with Pats either facing the Falcons or getting a re-match of Super Bowl XXXI (when Brett Favre grabbed his only championship ring at the expense of the Parcells-led Pats). Chicagoland native patdownes has a heck of a lot riding on the Bears game tomorrow. A Seahawks win would leave him with a maximum of only 28 points, likely dooming his championship aspirations - the best patdownes can do now is a couple AK conference championship showdowns, netting 4 additional points this weekend leaving open the possibility of 15 more if Chicago reaches the Super Bowl and faces one of Pittsburgh or Baltimore (this would net him his current max of 33).

Sitting in third and fourth place currently are dwfiresound (12 points) and Bowl Game Blackjack champion popchaunce (11). Each assigned Queens to both Chicago and the upstart Seahawks, guaranteeing them a Queen in their NFC title matchup and leaving them with a narrow path to the PPP money. For dwfiresound, it's simple - he will post his max score of 33 if Green Bay reaches the Super Bowl and the Jets lose to the Patriots tomorrow. Even the best case scenario for popchaunce is not so rosy. He cannot score more than 28 points under any scenario.

Here are the outlooks for the six teams currently sitting just outside the money with 10 points:

LuckyPierre (31 max) guaranteed himself pocket rockets in the AFC title game, correctly predicting the Jets (Ace) defeat of the Colts and the Ravens (Ace) over the Chiefs. He needs all chalk on the NFC side though, and will therefore be a big Falcons (King) and Bears (King) fan tonight and tomorrow, respectively. LP will then support the AFC (with the particular team he'll root on depending on which other contestants remain in contention).

Matt (31 max) need not concern himself with today's games; he need only root against the Jets (Queen) and Seahawks (Queen). Assuming those underdogs' hopes are extinguished tomorrow, Matt becomes an NFC fan the rest of the way, as any such Super Bowl champ would earn him his potential (but which NFC team represents the conference in the Super Bowl should matter greatly to him; e.g., he may need to root against the Bears in order to outshine patdownes).

Yours truly (thalernd, 31 max) put too much faith in Peyton Manning last week, and will therefore be among the many PPP Patriots (Ace) fans, tomorrow afternoon (as well those who will root thusly with a finger down their throats). In fact, I will have the same rooting interests as Matt this weekend, with the possible addition of a Packers win over Atlanta, which would bring a welcome detriment to opponents, such as LuckyPierre, who failed to see the potential of Aaron Rogers & company). From there, Matt and I will become natural enemies as I take up the AFC banner.

nschell (29 max), parhangelsky's (28 max), bob (28 max) appear to be long shots at the moment.

Other contestants with a chance to notch 30+ points:

32 Max:
SmackJabber PTB, quazflawless (32 max) would have some serious scratch on the line this weekend if he was not a site admin because he is one of only four remaining contestants with a chance to line up nothing but bullets (AA) the rest of the way. If chalk prevails in the AFC (NE and PIT) this weekend and the Packers and Bears play for the NFC's crown, quaz will be assured of 32 points, and at least a top 3 finish - it appears that an AFC Super Bowl win and/or a Bears NFC title under these circumstances would give quaz the PPP championship.

31 Max:
-SaraReinthaler (31 max) will root for Chicago and Baltimore generally, and needs the Packers to lose tonight.
-nnaislteys (31 max) needs AFC chalk this weekend, followed by a Green Bay run to the Super Bowl to cash.
-thepudge (31 max), another team who can matchup up all four Aces in the conference championships needs chalk in all four games this weekend (NE, PIT, ATL, CHI) to make it happen. His guaranteed 31 points will be most effective if the Steelers (A spades) or Falcons (A hearts) win the Lombardi Trophy.
-custybri (31 max) also has a shot at the 4-Ace Monte, but his magic numbers are riding on the Jets, Steelers, Packers and Bears.


30 Max:
-lbeck needs the Jets to lose tomorrow, Atlanta to win it all, and the Falcons to face Chicago in the NFC title game. And it probably wouldn't hurt her if the Ravens were the AFC Super Bowl rep.
-Becked is another Falcons/Bears fan and could tie lbeck with 30 if he achieves his optimal results (Becked's Ace of Diamonds on the Falcons would trump lbeck's Ace of Clubs on the Dirty Birds should that scenario play out).
-dnoyd07 needs AFC chalk this weekend, along with a Packers or Falcons title run to contend for a prize.
JohnAurora (30 max) prefers the Falcons version of the dnoyd07 scenario, above. Various other tiebreak implications exist.
-TigerLillyLisa (30 max) is likely in need of Ravens Super Bowl title, and would probably prefer Green Bay as their opponent.
-D0LeM1Te (30 max) is the final contestant eligible to Ace out the rest of the game and, like thepudge, looks for all of the favorites (NE, PIT, ATL and CHI) to win their games this weekend. A repeat of Super Bowl XX (Bears over Pats) is likely his best possible outcome.

Good luck to everyone! Enjoy the games!

Tweet of the Week

AroundTheHorn Tony Reali

RT @DaveLozo "This is for all the Tostitos" is the new "Taking my talents to South Beach."

Classic Clips

Besides the Giants beating the Bills, generally the Super Bowl was a blowout of a game when I was younger, even a blowout between the same two teams (Cowboys, Bills). In the past ten or eleven years though, Super Bowls have been the most exciting games in sports(except for one or two), and what made them exciting was on the field, not the hype surrounding them. One of the first of these, Super Bowl XXXIV, was a wild game with an ending that was unforgettable!

Lock It Up

My lock of the week is Patriots over Jets. I like them more than I like the Bears over the Seahawks. The trash talk by Rex and now Cromartie can and will only make the Pats play better. Not to mention that the Jets BARELY beat the Colts who wouldn't hold a candle to New England.

Stay away from Falcons vs Packers. While it would seem like the Packers would be favored because of their momentum, the Falcons are the new Cheifs and never lose at home. This game could be an exception to that rule though. Then again Matt Ryan, Rowdy Roddy, and Burner Turner could send the Pack packing.

Lock It Up 2011 Standings
Quaz Flawless : 1-1
Matt Summa : 0-1
Lee Feinstein : 0-1
Ian : 0-2

Get in on the action and comment or tweet your Lock of the Week. Throw #smackjabber #lockitup in your tweet with your pick/s @quazflawless.

Flawless Thoughts

After the Packers win over the Eagles, members of the media were seen taking the monkey off of Rodgers' back. If there was a monkey it was on Reid's back and maybe it still is. He traded away his Hall of Fame quarterback in division for Kevin Kolb with his $13 mil contract, then benched Kolb for UberVick. It all seemed so genius until Sunday.

Rex Ryan's trash talking is entertaining for sure, and it might even be effective most of the time. This time though, it seems like a huge mistake. It looks like his last resort to get his players to forget about that last game against the Pats which has to be on their minds. Hopefully, for the Jets that's not a sign of weakness.

It was reported today that the Nuggets organization was so upset with the Nets organization for being public about the possible Carmelo trade that they would instead trade him to the Knicks. Then later the Knicks part was said to be untrue. First of all why are the Nets doing anything to jeopardize a Carmelo trade, and second of all why weren't the Nugs in talk with the Knicks to begin with? Could you imagine Amare and Melo? If that did happen, would Net fans get to be bitter about where he took his talents?

It's finally over! Bret Favre is finished! No more Rachel Nichols setting up a tent on his front lawn. No more keys to the city. No more sexts. No more clothing containing a #4 patch unaffiliated with any team during press conferences. Reporting kind of killed Favre's legacy if anything though. It's not a good excuse and it gets thrown around a lot, but did we really need that much coverage of everything Favre? I remember the good old days when you just heard about Favre's interceptions and touchdowns, and hearing his name a hundred times from Madden and then eventually Frank Caliendo.

Tweet #smackjabber on twitter to get in on the smack talk in the standings pages of smackjabber.com games!

Natural Disaster?

Marshawn Lynch's run was classic on Saturday in the Seahawks win against the defending champion Saints that's for sure, but the aftershock might have been more than excited football fans! Check out this story from SB Nation Seattle -

http://seattle.sbnation.com/seattle-seahawks/2011/1/9/1925874/marshawn-lynch-seahawks-nfl-playoffs-earthquake

Tweet of the Week

I guess if you're Deion Sanders you get to make Man Laws.

DeionSanders

Popping gum is a pet peeve of mine and if a man does it he's breaking a MAN LAW. A man popping gum like a chick makes me angry!

5 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply