Superbowl

[Gen. Volkov]

Furthermore, you and I are in a gross minority of people who like college football more than the NFL, volkov, it's hard to explain to NFL people why the game is better at the university level. (It has nothing to do with the athletes being paid or not, that's a horrible argument imo)

True. Personally, I think it's better because it's still much more of a team sport at that level, which is more true to what football is all about. Part of it is because the athletes aren't paid, but not because of any amateur vs pro type thing, more because the players can't hold out over contracts, or get traded in the middle of the season, or demand a trade if they aren't getting their way. You are going to have standout players who affect the game at any level, but in college you don't have to worry about that standout player being traded or let go on free agency because of an injury. (Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, etc.) In fact in college, you might get a player for an extra year, or even two, if they are injured. You do often get standouts leaving for the NFL early, but I think that makes it more interesting. It's cool to watch a team rebuild every year, as the older players graduate and the underclassmen take on more leadership. The increased turnover makes for a better game, I think. That leads me to my last reason, I like college football because it's more volatile than the NFL. In the NFL you basically know who the good teams are from year to year, and if the team has a big lead going into the fourth quarter, they are almost certainly going to win. In college, the good teams change up nearly every year, and comebacks late in the game are much more common. You also get surprises like WVU beating the snot out of Clemson a lot more often in college than you do in the NFL.

[Briar]

AHAHA!

Pats vs Giants. East coasters must be thrilled.

[Gen. Volkov]

This sucks. Stupid Ravens. Stupid 49ers. Can't hold on to a stupid ball. Lee Evans, hero to zero in no time flat. Suspect Ravens will be shopping for a new placekicker in the off-season.

[Peace Alliance]

I think the Giants will win

[Dark Claws]

PATRIOTS! PATRIOTS!
Just had to do that. Anyway, the kid was a rookie. When you have all that pressure on you and every eye is staring at you and you have the weight of your team on your shoulders knowing that one bad kick will get you beat up in the locker room, you might snap. Give the kid a break, if he did that in the beginning of the game, no one would care.

[Gen. Volkov]

Just had to do that. Anyway, the kid was a rookie. When you have all that pressure on you and every eye is staring at you and you have the weight of your team on your shoulders knowing that one bad kick will get you beat up in the locker room, you might snap. Give the kid a break, if he did that in the beginning of the game, no one would care.

Kyle Williams was not a rookie, Lee Evans even less so, and Billy Cundiff was definitely not a rookie. Williams was in his second year in the NFL, Cundiff was in his 9th. Lee Evans was in his 7th year in the NFL. They are all professional football players, being paid lots and lots of money to do their jobs. Cundiff couldn't make a 32 yard field goal. He's being paid 2 MILLION dollars a year to make field goals. There is no excuse. Especially not after 9 years in the league. Lee Evans, Kyle Williams, a bit more sympathy, but not much more. Williams job was to catch punts. He failed. TWICE. It led directly to the Giants winning. Lee Evans I have the most sympathy for, that was a difficult catch and he had the defender draped all over him, and in the slo-mo it looks like he actually had possession before it got knocked out. Which means it's a fumble in the end zone, which went out of bounds, so a touchdown for the Ravens. In other words, Evans might have gotten screwed over by the refs. Besides which, that was second down. They had third down still to go, and the 4th down field goal attempt. Cundiff lost the Ravens the game, and he has no excuses.

[Dark Claws]

I heard Cundiff was a rookie. My bad. And so what? People screw up at work a lot. Even people working there for 9 years. Especially under pressure.

[Gen. Volkov]

It's his job, his only job. Let's say you worked at a factory, and your only job was to make sure the widgets coming out of a particular machine were not defective. If you screw up, and some of the widgets are defective, how is your boss not completely justified in firing your incompetent butt? Cundiff's only job is to kick the ball. He's not asked to do anything else, not tackle, not block, just kick the ball. For that he gets paid 2 million dollars a year. He screwed up his only job, and there is no excuse. The Ravens will be looking for a new kicker in the offseason.

[Kilkenne]

It was only a 32 yarder. It's not like it was the 47 yarder that destroyed the superbowl for the '90 Buffalo Bills. 32 yards is a chip shot, especially for a Pro-bowler. You just shouldn't miss that kick.

[Peace Alliance]

Yeah! I'm also outraged about sports! Grrrrrr!

[Kilkenne]

Good contribution.

[Dark Claws]

I'm just saying that he makes mistakes. Don't we all? Everyone screws up at work. No matter what the salary. Not that he shouldn't have made it but we shouldn't be putting so much of our anger and frustration on him. You could put it anyway. Flaccos only job is to be a quarterback. If he played better, maybe they could've won.

[Kilkenne]

Then it's your right to be disgusted with Joe Flacco's awful third down completion percentage. I don't see why fans of the team should have to give anyone a pass for anything. It's the nature of sports, indeed part of what most people like. Gives them something to talk about.

[Gen. Volkov]

It was only a 32 yarder. It's not like it was the 47 yarder that destroyed the superbowl for the '90 Buffalo Bills. 32 yards is a chip shot, especially for a Pro-bowler. You just shouldn't miss that kick.

Exactly.

I'm just saying that he makes mistakes. Don't we all? Everyone screws up at work. No matter what the salary. Not that he shouldn't have made it but we shouldn't be putting so much of our anger and frustration on him. You could put it anyway. Flaccos only job is to be a quarterback. If he played better, maybe they could've won.

When they screw up as bad as Cundiff did, they get fired. Of course we should be putting our anger and frustration on him, it is directly his fault that the Patriots are going to Superbowl. Flacco played quite well that day, heck he outplayed Tom Brady. Few QBs can say that. You honestly couldn't have asked much more from the guy, he put them in a position to at least have a chance to win, and Cundiff couldn't make the kick. These guys get paid millions of dollars to do what they do, I see no reason to give them a pass, for any reason. If I was in a high pressure, multi-million dollar job, I would be expected to perform. If I didn't, my boss would be completely justified in firing me.

[Kilkenne]

The world is a fair place, Volkov, it's why you are presently working in a laboratory using atomized kitten farts in a (successful) attempt to biologically treat cancer.