KarateKen

Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl

It took five playoff games, but we finally had a game come down to the end. Washington wins on a walk off field goal 23-20, being the only road team to win in this post season so far. It is the first playoff win for Washington in 19 years. There was some questionable play calling early in the game where Washington decided to pass on kicking a FG and go for it on 4th down, coming up empty. Had they lost it would be all the talk this week, but since they were able to pull out the win anyway it is just another crazy game in the NFL. Update: The current games are as scheduled - Saturday Jan. 18 Texans @ Chiefs - 4:30pm Commanders @ Lions - 8pm Sunday Jan. 19 Vikings or Rams @ Eagles - 3pm Ravens @ Bills - 6:30 pm All times eastern.

Broncos hung with the Bills for the first half and then some, but the Bills pulled away and make it a blowout in the second half. That sets up the second round in the AFC, the Ravens will play at the Bills and the Texans will play at the Chiefs. Both games will be on Saturday. The Ravens Bills game is especially interesting, two MVP candidates at QB and both teams are good enough to win the Super Bowl. Right now, the Eagles are up on the Packers 10-0, and we will see the NFC games over the next day plus. If the Eagles win, they will be at home next week no matter what happens in the other games, being the two seed. Three games in the playoffs so far and none of them have been close, I don't think the Packers look like they can hang with the Eagles either and this could become a blowout.

Yep. While the non-trained will see an attack as aggressive and threatening, many of us will just say, "hey, I have a lot of options here." I always avoid fights if possible but I know people I've trained with who seem to be hoping someone attacks them or threatens them so they can use their training.

The New England Patriots have hired head coach Mike Vrabel. This is not a surprise since many speculated he was in line for the job as soon as Mayo was fired. The first new head coach has been hired, five more to go.

In the coaching front the Bears have interviewed Pete Carroll. Both the Patriots and Jets have interviews Mike Vrabel. Both the Raiders and Jaguars are talking with Lions OC Ben Johnson, and the Saints appear to have interested in Lions DC Aaron Glenn. Nobody hired yet, and with the new rule this year anyone currently still coaching a team in the playoffs can't be hired until after that team is eliminated, so that might slow down some of the official announcements for head coaches. In other news the Titans fired GM Ran Carthon, believed to have been behind the decision to fire Mike Vrabel last season. The Titans regressed this year to a league worst 3-14 and hold the #1 draft pick. Vrabel is one of the most desired coaches available this season, he has been interviewed by the Patriots, Jets, Bears, and Saints, and the Raiders have also expressed interest.

Years ago I took a semester of JJJ in college and our Sensei told us "I like to fight the way I play chess, meaning that my opening makes a move, but after his first move I am in control, so if he grabs me by the shirt (indicating that the student was doing just that), then that is his move, now every move he makes between now and the end of the fight, I force him to make," then proceeded to take the student down. Always stuck with me.

Got thought it, actually not as tough as I thought it would be. Biggest challenge though was New Years Eve, but it worked out well.

Thid Eye Blind - Jumper

Busy day of hockey, 15 games. Winners were the Capitals, Jets, Blue Jackets, Devils, Flyers, Oilers, Senators, Stars, Canucks, Kraken, Islanders, and Bruins. West coast games still in action, Rangers and Knights tied at 1, Wild up 2-0 over the Sharks, and Flames tied with Kings at 1.

I was one of two on opening day of NFL playoffs, Ravens looked like Super Bowl contenders in their win over the Steelers. They controlled the clock and ran the ball well. Ravens are going to be a tough out for anyone. They will either play in Buffalo next week, or play at home against the Texans, as Houston blew through the LA Chargers like a California fire, 32-12, making it the first time in NFL history that 32-12 was the final score of a game. Chargers QB Justin Herbert, who had only three interceptions the entire regular season, threw four in the loss on Saturday. His QBR was 40.9, a season low, where his average had been 101 for the year and is 96 for his career. Surprising performance by Herbert for sure. Another first round exit for the Chargers and the Steelers. The Chargers have a new coach and the right QB, so they will probably be on the up and up, but the Steelers continue to have this just above mediocre seasons every year. How long will they stick with Mike Tomlin? He has never had a losing season, but it has been a while since they were a real contender. They seem to be just good enough to get into the playoffs but then lose in the first round.

Just for fun I am going to take a shot at some NFL Playoff picks for this weekend. Not something I usually do well at but let's just see how it goes. in the AFC I like the Ravens over the Steelers. I think the Ravens are a better team and the Steelers offense has struggled in recent weeks. I also like the Bills over the Broncos, Buffalo is a better team with a better QB and is at home. I am going to pick the Chargers over the Texans, the Chargers have the better team and the Texans have been too inconsistent for me. NFC is interesting between the Eagles and Packers. I'd like to see the Packers win and maybe they can pull a first round upset like they did last year, but I don't think so. Eagles have maybe the best offensive line in the league and are a very good team. I'm picking Philly. I am also going with the Bucs, who are at home, against Washington. Then on Monday I am picking the Vikings to win against the Rams in another close game.

Only five games tonight, Kings over the Jets, Red Wings over Blackhawks, Canadians over Capitals, Hurricanes over Canucks, and the Utah Hockey Club beat the Sharks.

Getto Boys - It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta

Evander Kane of the Oilers had knee surgery that will set back his recovery 4-8 weeks. Kane had a previous surgery in September and has not played this season, with the latest news the 33-year-old might not see the ice until next season. Without Kane the Oilers have 53 standings points, putting them at second place in the Pacific division.

The NFL has moved the MNF game between the Vikings and Rams out of LA and to Phoenix, AZ because of the fires. The game will be played in the Cardinals home stadium. Gametime and broadcast information all remains the same.

It is an excellent idea and thanks for sharing your information. Monitoring your heart during a workout is a good way to make sure you are pushing yourself just enough but not too much. This is especially important as we get older and our maximum heart rates lower. I always heard that your max heart rate should be 220 minus your age, so if you are 40 (I have no idea how old you are) your max heart rate should be 180 during a workout.

I appreciate the feedback. I am meeting with a nutritionist next week to discuss these new ideas.

@sensei8 is your wife a fan of Bill Belichick? Rumors starting now that Tom Brady, part owner of the Raiders, is attempting to convince Bill to leave North Carolina and take the Raiders job. Personally, I think Tom just wants to hire Bill so he can be Bill's boss and tell him what to do for a change. Oh, how the tables have turned!!!

A short hockey schedule got even shorter when the Flames and Kings had to be postponed due to the California fires. In the three games that were played the Blackhawks beat the Avalanche 3-1, the Capitals beat the Canucks 2-1 in overtime, and at last check the Panthers were up on Utah 2-0 in the third. Not a lot of news and notes otherwise tonight. As you can imagine a big part of the storyline for the rest of the season will be Ovechkin chasing Gretzky. Currently Ovechkin needs only 23 more goals to break the record. If he does not get it this season, he will early next year. Personally, I really don't care about it at this point, I grew up a Gretzky fan and remember when he broke the record in 1994 when he played for LA. I kind of hoped nobody would break it but it has been clear for a while that Ovi would break it sooner or later. I remember telling people three years or four years ago that he was going to do this. It just seemed inevitable. Some say records are meant to be broken, and maybe that is true. We might see this record broken as well. Austin Matthews is the current player with the best chance. He is 27 years old with 381 career goals, and last season he lead the league with a career high 69. Unfortunately, he has been injured much of this season and is having a down year. There is little argument that when healthy, Matthews is one of the top players in the league. Maybe someday he will have a chase of his own. For a little longer Gretzky will hold one of the most eye-opening stats you will ever come across in sports. Gretzky has 894 career goals, and if you took all of them away and put his total at zero, based on assists alone he still has more career points than any player in NHL history. His goals record will be passed, but nobody will catch him in assists or total points anytime soon. Two records I think will never be broken in my lifetime, both in other sports, are consecutive games. Cal Ripken Jr and Brett Favre. If you look at active streaks nobody is even close. In MLB, Ripken had 2,643 consecutive games played. The longest active streak is by Matt Olson at 620, more than 2,000 games and over 12 years away. Favre started 297 games in a row (321 if you count the playoffs) and the longest active streak is by Jake Matthews of the Falcons, at 174. More than 120 games and over seven years away. Not happening in either case.

Because of the wildfires in Southern California the NFL is considering moving the Vikings Rams game to Arizona. As of now the game is on as scheduled.

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck snagged his 300th career win Tuesday night when the Jets beat the Preds. Hellebuyck becomes the fastest American born goalie to win 300 games and the third fastest in NHL history. He has played great this season, and the Jets continue to be among the top teams in the standings. His 2.08 GPG average is best in the NHL this season among goalies who have at least ten starts. He also ranks second in save percentage at .926. Dallas and Detroit both win in overtime tonight and both now are on five game winning streaks. The Red Wings are beginning to come around after a bad start to the season. Other winners on Tuesday were the Lightning, Oilers, Maple Leafs, Blue Jackets, Flames, Wild and Golden Knights.

Browns quarterback Deshawn Watson suffered a setback in his injury recovery. Watson's season ended back in October when he suffered a ruptured Achilles during a loss against the Bengals and the latest setback could put him out of most or all of the 2025 season. Watson has been a monumental disaster since being traded to the Browns, in 19 games he has posted some of the worst stats ever and the team has continued to struggle. Meanwhile, Baker Mayfield is playing this weekend with Tampa and helped them win the division for the second year in a row. If you remember the Browns traded Mayfield to make room for Watson, then inexcusably gave Watson a massive contract. Cleveland has the number two pick in the draft, I would expect them to select a quarterback. It is my belief that the Browns have moved on from Watson and he will not be part of their future. With his injury issues, massive contract, and terrible play on the field, I would not be surprised if the entire NFL were to move on. The Deshawn Watson experiment is one of the all-time worst failures in American sports history.

Radiohead - Creep

Black Monday continues as the Raiders have fired head coach Antonio Pierce after a dismal 4-13 season that included an 11-game losing streak. @sensei8 was on this one I think back in November. Yet again the Raiders are looking for a new coach. They fired Gruden in 2021, and McDaniel's in 2023, now Pierce is gone after his first full season, though he did get about half a season in 2023 after McDaniel's was canned. With the new rule this year that teams are not allowed to hire coaches who are on teams that are still playing we might see later announcements in hiring of coaches. For example, if the Raiders wanted to hire Lions OC Ben Johnson, they would have to wait until the Lions were out of the playoffs, which might not be until the Super Bowl is over. This will delay possible hirings by some teams. Now there are six teams looking for a head coach. Jets, Jaguars, Patriots, Bears, Saints, and Raiders. Edit: The NY Jets have already announced they will not even interview Ben Johnson because they do not think he is the right fit. Once again, the Jets show everyone how stupid they are.