January 16th update

Favorites tumble in NFC, coast in AFC

• The NFL playoffs always have a few twists and turns and this year has been no exception. The Two most impressive teams over the course of this season according to many were the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers, led by MVP favorite Aaron Rodgers and likely runner-up Drew Brees. However both lost over the weekend as the Saints couldnt survive a crazy 4th quarter against the San Francisco 49ers and the Packers fell flat at home against Eli Manning and the New York Giants.

• The Saints fell behind 17-0 early and looked to be in trouble but quickly recovered and actually took the lead twice late in the game. However, the Saints have not been good on defense all year and could not guard TE Vernon Davis who torched them for 3 TD's including two in the fourth quarter and one with 9 seconds left in the game to provide the final margin of victory for the Nniers.

• The biggest play of the Packers-Giants game undeniably came at the end of the first half. With the Giants on the Packers 37 yard line, clinging to a 13-10 lead with just seconds remaining in the half, coach Tom Coughlin opted not to kick a Field Goal, instead throwing a Hail Mary pass which was inexplicably caught by Giants WR Hakeem "the Dream" Nicks. Green Bay never recovered and lost 37-20.

•The other two games were less surprising as the Patriots obliterated the Tim Tebow-led Broncos 45-10 with Tom Brady throwing for a playoff recorde tying 6 TD's just minutes into the second half, 3 of which went to TE Rob Gronkowski. The Baltimore Ravens won with their standard formula of defense and mistake free football, committing 0 penalties and 0 turnovers to barely edge the upstart Houston Texans 20-13. San Francisco and New England will host the Championship games next week with the winner playing in the Super Bowl on February 5th.

Yankees Make Big Moves

• Entering this offseason, the biggest question for the New York Yankees was surrounding their starting pitching. After their ace CC Sabathia, the Yankees pitching staff was a large question mark. However, in a flurry of moves within about an hour of each other on Friday night the Yankees took two big steps to shore up the rest of their staff.
• The biggest move was acquiring Seattle pitching phenom Michael Pineda. Pineda will be a top 3 starter for the Yankees (joining Sabathia and Phil Hughes) and made the All-Star team last year at the ripe old age of 22. He's still raw and has the ability to improve but he's a bright star with a lot of upside that the Yankees hope will be realized. The Yankees gave up star catching prospect Jesus Montero in this trade, showing just how high they are Pineda.

• The other move was signing former Dodgers starter Hideki Kuroda to a one year deal which will give them a quality arm in 2012 and will probably allow their two young young minor league stars (Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances) another year to develop and be coached.
The last two spots of the rotation can be filled with a number of prospects or established veterans.

Australian Open Starts this Week

• The Australian Open, the start of the Tennis season, kicked off on Sunday in Sydney. Many of the stories of this years tournament have come off the court. Venus Williams pulled out prior to the tournament due to an autoimmune disease that has kept her out of competition since August. Additionally, interesting comments from her sister Serena made some doubt her commitment, and comments about gay marriage by Australian tennis legend Margaret Court have given the tournament yet another front page talking point.
• In the Women’s bracket, #1 seed Caroline Wozniacki should have a nice path to a championship. She may have to play Li Na (last year’s runner up) in the semifinals. The toughest bracket is the one containing Serena, world #3 Vera Zvonereva and former Grand Slam event champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova
• In the Men’s bracket, the usual suspects are around. World ranked #1 Novak Djokovic is the prohibitive favorite but he will have to face the standard bearers of the last 10 years in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have been feuding recently with regard to player's rights. Incredibly, in the past 27 Men's Grand Slam events, only one (the 2009 U.S. Open won by Juan Martin Del Potro) was won by someone other than Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.