By Tom Reck
Round two of the National Football League playoffs is set and all four games could be good ones this weekend.
They’ll have to go some, though, to beat the action and drama of Sunday’s Arizona-Green Bay shootout as the Cardinals won in overtime 51-45.
It was ironic that a touchdown scored by the Arizona defense won this game dominated by the offenses, with the two teams combining for more than 1,000 total yards. Kurt Warner of Arizona and Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay both had super days.
Warner had more touchdown passes (five) than incomplete passes (four) and no interceptions. Some reports say he might be playing his last season. If so, he’s made the most of it so far.
We’ve always liked the Cardinals after covering some of their games when they were in St. Louis.
And we’ve always liked Warner, who played college football at Northern Iowa and made the most of an opportunity to make it big in the NFL and has come back more than once.
And he seems to be a genuinely nice person.
Now to this week’s games. Some picks and comments.
• Arizona at New Orleans — Two great quarterbacks, Warner and Drew Brees, indicates offense will be dominant in this one. But remember that defense won Sunday’s game for the Cardinals. We’ll take the Saints but the Cardinals very well could be making another run to the Super Bowl.
• Dallas at Minnesota — The Cowboys finally won another playoff game, with Tony Romo cutting down on the turnovers in the last seven games. Now they face the Vikes and Brett Favre, who may not even retire this season after having another stellar season. We’ll take Dallas.
• New York Jets at San Diego — The Jets were given new life by beating Indianapolis in that game still being discussed on Indy sports radio and beat Cincinnati twice to get this far in the postseason. San Diego has won 11 in a row and are the pick of many to reach the Super Bowl. We like the Chargers.
Finally —
• Baltimore at Indianapolis — The Ravens were awesome in handing New England its first home playoff defeat since 1978 and will be primed for another crack at the team that once called Baltimore home. The Colts should be in good shape for the game but will have to bring their A Game to win. We like the Colts.
In other words, we think it will be the Chargers and Colts in the AFC title game and the Saints and Cowboys in the NFC championship.
Cris Collinsworth was interviewed on The Jay Leno Show last week and predicted that it would be the Colts against the Philadelphia-Dallas winner — Dallas — in the Super Bowl.
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• Mr. Softball — Wayne Myers died Sunday and Andy Amey has a story relating his many accomplishments in today’s newspaper.
We had known Wayne as an official and as Mr. Softball in Terre Haute. No person has done more for the sport of softball in this town, area, or state. Maybe in the entire country.
Wayne used to join our coffee group at Honey Creek Mall along with brother Bill and longtime friend Archie Blair. He had not been there in some time but he had been able to attend some softball functions in the past year in spite of poor health.
That was good. Our thoughts and prayers go to his wife, brothers and family. He will be missed.
• Answer given — We got answers to the question posed to us last month about a tie on the Kentucky basketball record.
It occurred at a game in 1918 and came about when the scorekeeper discovered his error after the game had been played. Attempts apparently were made to reschedule the game but it never happened.
Trib-Star staffer Dennis Clark and Tom Sappington, a Hautean who works in Ohio, were two who sent answers.
• Honor for Lobb — Pam Lobb has received another honor in motorsports reporting.
She has won her 10th National Dragster Magazine award for contributor/photographer of the year in Division 3 of the NHRA that includes Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and one track in Canada.
Lobb has been reporting and doing photography at Crossroads Dragway for 16 years, submitting reports to the Tribune-Star and other media outlets.
Congrats, Pam.
• Tom-Cattin’ It — Terre Haute grad Samantha Miessel had another great game for the undefeated Indianapolis women’s basketball team Saturday. She had 33 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks in a victory at Missouri-St. Louis.
• The Ben Davis girls basketball team continues to win and win big, rolling along with a 14-0 mark. The Giants recently defeated a good Bloomington South team 66-35 and a solid Indianapolis North Central team 64-40.
In a boys basketball game played last week, Center Grove improved to 2-0 in the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference by beating Carmel at Carmel 60-40. Carmel recently had taken Bloomington South into overtime.
• Drew Wood has resigned as football coach at Bloomington South, compiling a 39-25 record in six seasons. He says he intends to return to school and work on an advanced degree.
• Jerry Wainwright was fired as the men’s basketball coach at DePaul in Chicago. He had been at the school since 2005. The Blue Demons were 0-18 in the Big East last year and 9-24 overall and started this year with 7-8 and 0-3 marks.
• A.J. Boyll of North Central intends to play college baseball at South Carolina-Beaufort. He hit .531 last spring.
Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by e-mail at tm_reck@
yahoo.com or by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Apt. 3, Terre Haute, IN 47802.
