It’s a big day for the Packers. The uncertainty has dissipated. The weight has been lifted. The clouds have parted. We, Packer fans by birth or by choice, can raise our heads higher than they’ve been raised in months.
Aaron Rodgers’s haircut isn’t weird anymore:
It’s been quite the year for our guy Aaron Rodgers. He became an ayahuasca evangelist. He stunk at football for a while. His alleged ex-girlfriend got stuck in Peru during an attempted coup. Through its worst parts, he had a weird frickin haircut.
Not anymore!!
Not to speculate on a guy’s personal life, but my speculation on Aaron Rodgers’s personal life is as follows:
He really liked Aubrey Marcus. Really liked ayahuasca, too. Was into all of that. He met Blu of Earth (not any other Blu, we’re still talking about that specific Blu) through Marcus, and he liked her, and maybe they dated and maybe they didn’t but it sounds like they’re recently on the outs, and I’m wondering if this is a breakup haircut. Not just a breakup with Blu, but with being super super weird. Rodgers remains a weirdo, but not a super super weirdo anymore. He found his line. It’s either super weirdo or super duper weirdo, but definitely not super super. The hair is a manifestation of his rejection of the Woo Woo Industrial Complex. “You know what?” I picture Aaron Rodgers saying. “I don’t need to be performatively weird. I just need to be me.” *cue season turnaround*
This is the worst of news for the Vikings, who will always be remembered now as a, “That team really won its division?” It’s next-worst news for the Bears, because Rodgers is probably coming back next year and will probably pummel them at Soldier Field in Justin Fields’s final game as the Bears’ starter. After that, I’d say the Lions and Seahawks are tied, because they’re the ones getting edged out next weekend. Beyond that I don’t know because the 49ers habitually terrify me after this last decade of playoff encounters. I have an audible reaction to the 49ers. Brock Purdy doesn’t help. He’s too boyish and charming.
Whatever the next week or weeks hold, though, we—Packers fans—can embrace this: Aaron Rodgers isn’t super super weird anymore. He’s just himself.
Wyoming Showed Something
We’ve been waiting all year for the Wyoming Cowboys to show they aren’t a walking corpse, and we just got it. Against undefeated, ranked, probably-not-going-to-make-the-NCA*-*********t-but-we-won’t-ruin-their-moment New Mexico, Wyoming only lost by one. It was their fourth straight defeat, eighth in the last ten, ninth in the last twelve, and…
It made us keep believing.
Wyoming, you can still win the NIT. Your colors are cool enough that our standards aren’t that high.
This is a strange thing to know, but Jeff Linder has had seasons like this before. In 2020, Northern Colorado didn’t win the Big Sky title but was far and away the best team on paper. Similar story-ish in 2018, the year they won the CIT (they weren’t better than Montana that year, but they did finish the regular season below their station). Jeff Linder is among the sandbaggers. I don’t know why—it really doesn’t help you to do that if you’re a mid-major—but he is. We’re still in on the Cowboys.
Among our other ten potential NIT winners…
- Tulane continues to have a moment, which is big, because if they lose today in the Cotton Bowl that piece of the moment is done, and that piece is the vast majority of the moment. They beat Memphis yesterday. Helped Memphis out, too.
- Notre Dame keeps losing, but we still think that’s part of Mike Brey’s plan. Team falls apart, team comes together, team surges into the NIT picture and takes the nation by storm. What? You think Mike Brey doesn’t want to spend the last week of March in Las Vegas?
- St. John’s was flattened at Seton Hall, which is great for their candidacy as well. You can’t win the NIT if you’re winning conference road games. Or any road game, for that matter (except for ones in the NIT, I guess, if your seed demands it). St. John’s: Technically 0-3 on the road.
- Those stupid bastards Illinois didn’t play, but they’re at Northwestern on Wednesday and if I know college basketball, that’s a recipe for message board meltdowns. Maybe I’ll reach out to that Illinois fan who sent us the “Your Website Sucks” email back in 2021. I wonder if he’s graduated high school yet.
- UAB played UTSA in what KenPom’s formula for such things labeled, coming in, as the worst game of all the games on Saturday. There were well over one hundred games on Saturday.
- The Oklahomas each lost by one possession. They are in lockstep. We might be headed for an all-Oklahoma title game. But only if we don’t get an intra-Oklahoma quarterfinal first. Can you imagine the environment? Wow. I’m gonna have to go for a walk now. I’m giddy.
- Finally, Dayton played Davidson. Nobody knows how it went. Just a basketball game that occurred.
You Haven’t Heard?
The Sens are making the playoffs. Clear as day. They only got two points from the two games this weekend (lost to the Wings, beat the Sabres), but the vibes remain great, and I think if you pick the right sample you can say they’re gaining ground on the field.
No game tonight, but tomorrow, the Sens start a stretch that goes Blue Jackets (H), Kraken (H), Predators (H), Coyotes (A), Avalanche (A), Blues (A), and five of those teams suck. Have the Senators been accused of also sucking? Yes. But that’s my point! They don’t! Grab a quick eleven points these two weeks and they’re knocking on Stanley’s door. (Stanley being the cup, I mean, and in this instance specifically the playoffs.)
In the meantime, I’ve got a fridge full of beers because we hosted Fargo’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve on Saturday (good god, was she rocking—especially when her groomer walked in), so I’m gonna do what the good man says:
See you tomorrow, Ottawa. (Not, like, in the flesh or anything. Although I’m trying to sneak a trip there this summer through the Niagara Falls-and-Montreal ruse. We’ve got a wedding in Cleveland.)
**
Our itinerary for the day:
7:00 PM EST: West Virginia @ Oklahoma State (ESPNU)
Game of the NITe. West Virginia isn’t out of it, but Oklahoma State is very much in it. Pokes can do whatever they want with this one. They don’t need a win, they don’t need a loss. We’re just here to look at ‘em.
12:00 PM EST: Outback Bowl (ESPN2)
1:00 PM EST: Cotton Bowl (ESPN)
1:00 PM EST: Citrus Bowl (ABC)
5:00 PM EST: Rose Bowl (ESPN)
It is incredible that Outback Steakhouse claimed enough dominion over a bowl that I won’t call it by its new name. It’s not like we’ve been beholden to sponsors this year, either. We still call the Copper Bowl the Copper Bowl, for Pete’s sake! No. We just think of the Outback Bowl with enough respect that Outback Steakhouse still, in our hearts, has the sponsorship. Do the right thing, ReliaQuest, whatever you are. (Really hope ReliaQuest isn’t curing cancer or something. I just sent them a letter asking if they can do me a favor and go out of business.)
8:30 PM EST: Bills @ Bengals (ABC)
I’m a little confused why this game has me so excited, because it’s not just the quality of the game. We’re an NIT blog, and whatnot. I think what’s happening is that the Bills and Bengals are such cool teams when you describe them. One has tiger stripes on its helmet and is named the Bengals. The other is the only professional sports team in Buffalo, New York. Both were good in…the 90s? I know the Bills were. Were the Bengals good back then? Looks like I’m thinking of the 80s. Weird that those decades were next to each other.
10:00 AM EST: Burnley @ Swansea City
I was hoping we’d send these to press an hour and a half ago so I could say, “Well this sure got away from us!” and talk about all the goals in the first thirty minutes. Instead, it’s going to press right after it ends. But hey, Burnley got a win, and I stepped up my viewership (watched the Bet365 live field diagram instead of just refreshing Burnley’s Twitter page every few minutes).
2:00 PM EST: Winter Classic – Penguins @ Bruins (TNT)
They still do this? I knew that, but I also forgot. You know? Fenway Park! Fun stuff.
