You read it, the Chicago Bears are THE team to beat in the weak NFC Conference. I know I know, we can make a case for the Dallas Cowboys or the New Orleans Saints but the fact of the matter is, the Bears have the most complete team in the NFC and here’s why.

In case you haven’t heard of it by now, the Chicago Bears win NFL Football games because of their defense. The Bears defense have that authority to shut down any NFL Football team, no matter how bleak the situation is.

Of course we all saw that when the Chicago Bears defense rallied from a huge 20-plus points deficit to beat the stunned Arizona Cardinals in the second half. This loss was disheartening for the Cardinals. They were looking quite good hovering around .500 then, but after what the Bears defense did to their rookie quarterback Matt Leinart, the Cardinals wasn’t the same since.

And who can forget the infamous ”the Bears are who we thought they were” line during that fateful post-game press conference? Now THAT was funny. Even funnier than defensive leader, Brian Urlacher, making any offensive lineman from the opposing team piss on his pants.

Special teams. Yep, these Chicago Bears have special teams that can score in bunches too. Wow, I never thought I’d be able to say that about the Bears special teams. Oh yeah, they have a rookie this season that goes by the name of Devin Hester.

The city of Chicago has a thing for athletes wearing No.23 and Bears No.23 Devin Hester is no different. After Michael Jordan, Chicago has now found a new messiah in the electrifying rookie.

Hester is excellent in punt returns. And with the rate the kid is doing, scoring TDs returning punts, opposing teams could be better off kicking onside kicks risking giving up the ball to these Bears in field goal range than kicking it all the way to the other end of the field, where Hester can return it for six points.

And of course, the Chicago Bears have the inconsistent Rex Grossman patrolling the offense. Grossman is terrible, and boy, do I mean terrible, in his worst games, but when Grossman is on fire, he is literally on fire.

Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Rex Grossman just became the very first Bears QB to go over the 300-yard mark passing in a single game and if Grossman can have that kind of performance every game, there is no beating the myth of the Chicago Bears.

God help the Packers on Sunday night.

Can Rex Grossman lead the Chicago Bears to the playoffs? Bet and play WagerTalk’s NFL Football Handicapping Contest and decide for yourself. Make your picks now.

Who will win Super Bowl XLI at Miami, Florida? Sports Interaction has the outright odds on that one.

Dallas Cowboys 15.00

New England Patriots 8.50

Indianapolis Colts 7.00

Chicago Bears 4.50

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best odds on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

Yep, Tony Dungy was able to lead his NFL Football teams to the playoffs for a remarkable seven straight seasons now, going on eight with the Indianapolis Colts this year.

He is as respected as any man in the game, both as a person and for his coaching ability. And yet, not only has he never won a Super Bowl, he has never reached one. And not only has he never reached one, but there are those who whisper he never will because he lacks the one thing a Super Bowl-winning coach needs, the killer instinct to push aside everything else.

What’s the problem? The man lacks emotion.

The cameras never catch coach Dungy shouting his lungs out. Cameras never catch coach Dungy talking to his players in a manner Dallas Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells does. And yep, cameras will never catch coach Dungy cursing under his breath.

Is the guy just too nice to be an NFL Football head coach?

Tony Dungy is still going through a personal tragedy, the suicide of his 18-year-old son, James, last year, Dec.22. However, in spite this tragedy, Dungy was able to turn it into a social cause, reaching out to those trying to prevent teenage suicide. (“I was amazed at how many people had suffered through the same thing,” he says.)

In six seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and in 4 ¾ with the Indianapolis Colts, Dungy has won 112 games and lost 60, a winning percentage of .651. That’s better than any other active coach, Joe Gibbs, Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan and Mike Holmgren are 2-3-4-5.

By taking a team to the NFL playoffs for an eighth straight season, he’ll tie his mentor Chuck Noll for second place behind Tom Landry, the only coach ever to do it nine straight times. There’s a ”but” there.

Dungy’s playoff record is 5-8 and includes some notable losses, such as at home to Pittsburgh last season after the Indianapolis Colts secured home-field advantage in the AFC. Gibbs, Cowher and Holmgren all have Super Bowl wins. Dungy? ZERO.

Who will win Super Bowl XLI at Miami, Florida? Sports Interaction has the outright odds on that one.

Dallas Cowboys 15.00

New England Patriots 8.50

Indianapolis Colts 7.00

Chicago Bears 4.50

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best odds on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

Yep, apparently, the Denver Nuggets literally found the ANSWER to all their troubles in NBA Basketball. After we saw the ”alleged” George Karl – Kenyon Martin feud unfold last season, after watching the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets kick each other’s ass the past few weeks and after seeing how the NBA slapped Carmelo Anthony with a 15-game suspension, all’s well in the rocky mountains of Denver.

For weeks, the Denver Nuggets were searching for an answer to all these bumps on the road for an NBA Championship. After completing a trade with the troubled Philadelphia 76ers, the Nuggets found an ANSWER, literally.

Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl is finding that the addition of Allen Iverson from Philly has brought much more to his team than 25 points and 11 assists a game, MVP-type stats in their own right.

Since joining the Nuggets, Iverson has shown he can talk a good game, too. His constant chatter with teammates has added a source of energy and positive thinking the Nuggets were missing, Karl said.

”It’s definitely an asset I didn’t know was there,” George Karl said. ”I hadn’t heard that about him. I heard he was a good teammate. His positive energy is right up there with Nate McMillan.”
McMillan was a key cog on Karl’s best teams in Seattle for many years. Now, it seems he has another one in Allen Iverson. Yep, Philly had no idea what they were giving up BIG TIME.

”There’s no question that’s a valuable asset,” Karl said. ”Last year our team didn’t fall apart, but it broke apart a little bit because of our being negative toward one another.”

That fracture led to a third consecutive first-round playoff exit. Now with Allen Iverson, and later with Carmelo Anthony, they might just be good enough to earn home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Well, we’re hoping anyway.

Can Allen Iverson lead the Denver Nuggets to the NBA Playoffs? Who will win the 2007 NBA Championship? Here are some odds from Bodog:

Chicago Bulls 7/1

Detroit Pistons 9/1

Dallas Mavericks 7/2

Miami Heat 4/1 (boo!)

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best odds on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

Aside from leaving one big-ass hole in my fantasy team, you single-handedly destroyed everything you have worked for from being a pretender to an All-Star player after that sucker punch you unloaded on Mardy Collins.

Yep, you read it, Carmelo Anthony had everything going for him before that fateful Nuggets-Knicks brawl at Madison Square Garden. And I’m sure, even though Madison Square Garden is used to big fights such as the Hulk Hogan – Andre the Giant wrestling match or those legendary Muhammad Ali title bouts, THIS was not the fight MSG had in mind.

Coming to this NBA Basketball season, Carmelo Anthony was looking to equal or even surpass the level of the Kobe Bryants and the Kevin Garnetts.

Coming to this NBA Basketball season, Melo wanted to leave his draft mates in the dust as he goes for the upper echelons of super stardom. So what did Melo do?

Well, Carmelo Anthony became the best player on the United States men’s basketball team. Here, he was able to change his image from a ”me first” kind of guy to the team player he was before the now infamous MSG melee.

He was outshining draft mates, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, in this NBA Basketball season, leading the league in scoring and carrying the Denver Nuggets to one of the more solid starts in the young NBA Basketball season.

And after spending $1.5 million to open a youth center with his name on it in Baltimore on Thursday, Anthony, 22, appeared to have the entire face of NBA Basketball in the palm of his hand.

But with one close-fisted punch in a fateful Saturday night, he might have undone all the good he had created. And instead of being recognized as one of the greats, he’s now part of the cancer that is bringing the sport that I love down.

Well, for what it’s worth, guys like him, Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace make this sport that I love THAT much more worth watching anyway so I guess I can handle another problem child in the NBA. I wouldn’t count on him winning any humanitarian awards anytime soon though.

Can Carmelo Anthony lead the Denver Nuggets to the NBA Playoffs? Who will win the 2007 NBA Championship? Here are some odds from Bodog:

Chicago Bulls 7/1

Detroit Pistons 9/1

Dallas Mavericks 7/2

Miami Heat 4/1 (boo!)

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best odds on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

Yep, New York Giants running back Tiki Barber is still holding by his decision to call it quits after the NFL Football regular season. Tiki is STILL at the prime of his career and according to some NFL analysts, it’s absolutely nuts to walk away from the game now.

Well, not to Tiki. Apparently, the decision to call it quits dawned on him the morning after his New York Giants pulled off a dramatic comeback victory over Donovan McNabb, (he wasn’t injured YET then…) and the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles.

That’s when he knew that this would be his final NFL Football season.

”I felt like I was 50 years old,” Tiki Barber said. ”I consciously told myself, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to move on with the rest of my life.”’

The New York Giants staged a remarkable fourth-quarter rally against the Philadelphia birds and beat their divisional rival in overtime. After the game, Tiki Barber was exhausted.

”Literally, the next morning, I couldn’t pick my head up off my pillow because I had an injury to my neck and back,” he said. ”My kids wanted to play with me, but all I could do was lay in bed. Jeremiah Trotter hit me like 20 times. I was tired. I was beat up. I didn’t recover from that game until probably the next Saturday.”

”I don’t want to be like Earl Campbell when I’m 50, not being able to walk, especially with all the opportunities that I have, that I have a passion for,” said Barber, who plans a career as a television broadcaster.

”This is a stadium I’ve been coming to for 10 years, and there are tons of memories for me,” he said. ”But I think the emotion won’t come until later, because I’m so focused on my job and the things I need to do.”

Tiki Barber is probably one of the best running backs in the game today. But with his imminent retirement coming closer and closer after each day that comes to pass, I guess he would have to walk out of the game STILL without a Super Bowl ring.

You guessed it, the New York Giants won’t win the Super Bowl. Not this year, not next year, not ever.

Can Tiki Barber lead the New York Giants to the playoffs? Bet and play WagerTalk’s NFL Football Handicapping Contest and decide for yourself. Make your picks now.

Who will win Super Bowl XLI at Miami, Florida? Sports Interaction has the outright odds on that one.

Dallas Cowboys 15.00

New England Patriots 8.50

Indianapolis Colts 7.00

Chicago Bears 4.50

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best odds on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

Are there some still surprised about the Oakland Raiders being snubbed by the NFL Pro Bowl voting for Hawaii this year? Well, after a pathetic stand in this NFL Football season by these struggling Raiders, they shouldn’t be.

Just like in NBA Basketball, a good player in a very very PATHETIC team makes that good player look as bad. Remember Melo’s All-Star snub last year? Melo didn’t get the All-Star game invite because the Denver Nuggets were that bad. The Nuggets were bad, so Carmelo looked bad.

After all, it’s a team sport right? And if your team SUCK, then you can bet your ass people will see you SUCK shit as well, no matter how good you say you are. And with the Raiders’ case, they should not be expecting anything different.

Pro Bowl day always turns out to be as much about who doesn’t make it as who does. Considering the crying that comes down, a case could be made the day deserves a new name, something like Pro Bawl day.

The Oakland Raiders didn’t expect much from the announcements of who would be going to Hawaii on Feb.10 for the annual all-star game. But, even with the losing record this season, they expected more than they got. Yep, they actually expected more.

Well, in fairness to the Oakland Raiders, they do have the no.1 pass defense and no.4 overall defense in NFL Football this year. Yep, the Raiders do have one of the best defenses in the league this season and their fucking record did not do their defense justice.

You can almost feel for Warren Sapp huh?

The closest Oakland came was getting defensive end Derrick Burgess named as a substitute. Sorry Oakland, I guess there’s always next season.

Who will win Super Bowl XLI at Miami, Florida? Sports Interaction has the outright odds on that one.

Dallas Cowboys 15.00

New England Patriots 8.50

Indianapolis Colts 7.00

Chicago Bears 4.50

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best odds on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

Yep, I couldn’t stress that even further. After shutting down the New England Patriots the week before, these somewhat inconsistent Miami Dolphins were shut down themselves by the Buffalo Bills.

Jeez… It’s the Buffalo Bills for crying out loud. A storied team like the Miami Dolphins shouldn’t be beaten like that by a team whose only true football icon is O.J. Simpson. C’mon!

Yep, the Buffalo Bills blew the Miami Dolphins away, 21-0, throwing Miami’s playoff chances out the window. Of course, you can bet yer ass the Dolphins didn’t appreciate being eliminated from the playoffs at all.

And yeah, Miami Dolphins head coach Nick Saban saw it coming too.

A night before last Sunday’s game, Dolphins coach Nick Saban stood in front of his players with a message. It wasn’t necessarily intended for any specific player or unit. However, cornerback Andre Goodman knew better.

The words about consistency and reliability were certainly meant for his ears.

”If you’re going to be a good cornerback, then you have to be a good shutdown corner on every play,” Saban told them, as Goodman recalled Sunday. ”Not just certain games, certain plays. Every game, it has to be that way.”

As for their Monday Night Football rivals, the New York Jets, they just won their eight win of the NFL Football season, beating the tough Minnesota Vikings 26-13.

The New York Jets are making quite a strong stand at the right time and they are definitely looking strong as the hold on to that wild card playoff berth in the AFC.

Who will win this NFL Monday Night Football game between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets? All Star Sportsbook has the odds.

New York Jets +2

Miami Dolphins -2

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best odds on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

The question here is, will he be the monster offensively that can give the Dallas Cowboys another huge win? Or will he be the monster that has brought his team on the brink of chaos?

Yep, it will be the Terrell Owens show Monday as his Dallas Cowboys take on his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, in what would be round two between T.O. and Philly. Philadelphia won round one so you can bet Owens will either find redemption with a win or ultimately just suffer a mental breakdown with yet another loss to the Philadelphia birds.

Terrell Owens won’t be meeting hated adversary, Donovan McNabb, as the Eagles franchise QB was taken out of the season with yet another injury.

This time, T.O. will be taking on his ”other” adversary, his first one in fact, as he takes on former San Francisco 49ers teammate, Jeff Garcia.

The Terrell Owens saga started back in San Francisco when T.O. started jawing at quarterbacks. The first of which was former San Francisco 49ers QB, Jeff Garcia.

Isn’t it ironic that Owens’ former team, the Eagles, will have yet another ”Owens victim,” so to speak, in Jeff Garcia as they meet T.O. on the field Monday? And yeah, Terrell Owens WILL still have the rest of the Dallas Cowboys led by quarterback extraordinaire Tony Romo against Philly but let’s face it, this NFL Football game on Monday is all about T.O., especially after his infamous spit last week on DeAngelo Hall’s mug.

The Dallas Cowboys goes up against the Philadelphia Eagles. Terrell Owens versus Jeff Garcia. Yep, this Terrell Owens saga ain’t over yet folks.

Who will win this NFL Monday Night Football rivalry game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles? Can Dallas beat the Eagles or will Philadelphia upset the Cowboys yet again? All Star Sportsbook has the odds.

Philadelphia Eagles +7

Dallas Cowboys -7

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best odds on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

As much as I’d like that to happen, it ain’t it. It’s about the city of Paris silly. The very city depicted in movies as a very romantic place filled with very beautiful French women. Well, as far as this so-called ”Paris Syndrome” goes, that picture of the city is the exact opposite of what the Paris Syndrome shows. Confused? Read on.

Some Japanese tourists, probably spending this Christmas holiday season in the beautiful city of Paris, have fallen to prey to what they are now calling, ”Paris Syndrome.” Yup, this is what these Asians are calling it after discovering that beautiful Paris ain’t so beautiful after all.

Apparently, some Parisians can be rude just like most of us too. As a result, these Japanese tourists ended up somewhat disappointed after having this almost perfect picture of this city. The experience can apparently be too stressful for some and they suffer a psychiatric breakdown.

Many of the visitors come with a deeply romantic vision of Paris, the cobbled streets, as seen in the film Amelie, the beauty of French women or the high culture and art at the Louvre.

The reality can come as a shock.

An encounter with a rude taxi driver, or a Parisian waiter who shouts at customers who cannot speak fluent French, might be laughed off by those from other Western cultures.

But for the Japanese, used to a more polite and helpful society in which voices are rarely raised in anger, the experience of their dream city turning into a nightmare can simply be too much. This year alone, the Japanese embassy in Paris has had to repatriate four people with a doctor or nurse on board the plane to help them get over the shock.

So much for this once ideal holiday vacation spot eh?

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best odds on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

Yep, as of press time, Philadelphia 76ers president, Billy King, has been talking with Larry Brown about a possible return to coaching the disgruntled NBA Basketball franchise.

Already acting as an unofficial adviser to the Philadelphia 76ers and team president Billy King, Brown could formally return to the organization he led to the 2001 NBA Finals.

”We will certainly continue to talk, but at this point, we are not sure if anything official will come of it,” Billy King said.

Allen Iverson and Larry Brown have been jawing at each other throughout the two’s stint with Philly. Now that Philadelphia has traded Allen Iverson to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Joe Smith, Andre Miller and two future first-round picks, there’s no stopping this Brown-Philadelphia reunion.

Now I don’t know if the Sixers trading away Iverson was a good deal for Philly but having a coach of Larry Brown’s caliber back will definitely be sweet. Besides, Larry Brown has a knack for turning a star-less team to a championship franchise, he did that after all with the Detroit Pistons back in 2004, and with the make-up the 76ers unit is in right now, star-less is definitely the right term.

Larry Brown’s agent, Joe Glass, indicated in a brief interview that Brown could return to Philadelphia. The New York Knicks fired Brown in June after he went 23-59 in his only season in New York.

”However it’s going to be characterized will come out in the next couple of days,” Glass said.

Glass was vague on what kind of announcement should be expected.

”I’d much rather have it come out of the Sixers office,” Glass said, ending a brief phone interview.

Who will win the 2007 NBA Championship? Here are some odds from Bodog:

Chicago Bulls 7/1

Detroit Pistons 9/1

Dallas Mavericks 7/2

Miami Heat 4/1 (boo!)

Want more odds? Visit OddsHQ for the best odds on some of today’s biggest sporting events.