Robbie Cage Presents Sport’s Picks to Take to the Bank at Least Half the Time

It’s that time of the week again my friends where The Ripper is gonna share his sports expertise with each and every Buzzhead brave enough to read this little blog.

First, let us recap my less than stellar performance last week. I went 2-2 in my first week I did correctly predict the outcomes of both the Patriots dominating performance of the Texans, as well as the Falcons win over the no longer Cinderella Seahawks. That being said, thanks to a heartbreaking end to my Broncos season and the fact I couldn’t have been more wrong about Kaepernick and the Niners, I feel like I really need to improve on my ability to look to the future.

I also feel like I need to mention the two enormous sports stories that broke this week. It is not often that a story is so big it transcends sports and makes its way into main stream pop culture and regular news. Considering this week had two stories that did this I feel like I must mention it.

First of all, let me say that I feel that LiveStrong, the cancer support foundation started by Lance Armstrong , is an absolutely wonderful organization. The work they do in offering assistance and support for those who have and have survived cancer is truly a blessing. Lance Armstrong, however, seems to be one of the most self-serving, egotistical, bullying, jerks in sports history. The things that have come out that he has done in the past couple of weeks, from cheating, to having the audacity to sue the people brave enough to speak out against him are truly despicable. I have not and will not watch his interview with Oprah because I feel it is just an attempt for him to prevent the downfall of his empire and nothing more. Besides, at this point how can anyone believe a word he says anyway?

As far as Manti’ Teo is concerned. C’mon man…. You really expect us to believe that you did not know anything about this. That you may have embellished the details of your relationship with the now nonexistent woman, but you had no idea she wasn’t real. I for one am not buying it. He may not have been the one that cooked up this hoax, but at the very least, he knew about it and allowed it to turn in to the story that it became. That of course is my opinion…. Nothing more.

Now to the task at hand.

The first game on the slate for Sunday is the NFC Championship. This game features the San Francisco 49’ers travelling to Hotlanta to take on the Falcons. I made the mistake last week in not buying in to the Kaepernick experiment. He ran up and down the field last week en route to a 180 yard performance. Now he faces an Atlanta defense that coulda shoulda woulda blown a 20 pt lead last week. They had to rely on a miracle from that potent Falcons offense with only around 30 seconds left. I can only hope John Fox was taking notes. So who wins it and heads to the Big Game? Vegas says San Fran… I am not so sure. Despite their playoff struggles Matt Ryan has the highest home winning percentage at home of any QB in NFL history (at least since the Super Bowl has been around). I’m going with the higher seeded home team. Falcons win a close one 38-35

Now on to the AFC Championship… The Baltimore Ravens did what NOBODY said they would do. They were 9 pt dogs in Denver last week. What happens next? Ray Lewis reads my blog and decides to go all we are on a mission from God in the locker room (I can only assume Ray read my blog and that’s what inspired him to tears last week). Lewis is once again faced with what could be his last dance on the football field. Once again it is an old foe he must defeat in likes of Tom Brady, Mr. Ugg Boots himself. Can Ray inspire another upset?  Can that Baltimore Defense confuse Tom like he did Peyton last week? Can Flacco put together another solid performance? No. I don't think it happens again.  In the end the Pat’s are going to be too much at Gillette. Pats win 35-31.