Your wait in breathless anticipation is over – my picks for the NFL’s conference championship games are here.
They come at the end of a week that began with a shirtless member of the Kelce posse flaunting an ample, naked chest through the window of the family’s stadium suite in Buffalo.
No, it wasn’t Travis Kelce’s gal pal Taylor Swift, but instead his brother Jason. Several days later, it was Taylor flashing, so to speak. She made quite the stir when her fake, said to be AI-generated explicit photos, hit social media Friday and were promptly taken down by the powers that be.
Reuters reported Friday that the White House was “alarmed” by those fake images, one of which the New York Times reported was viewed 47 million times before the account on X (Twitter) was suspended. Alas, I missed the show, but I hope Bill Clinton got a peek.
Understand, it takes a lot to alarm Clueless Joe Biden and, by extension, the White House. A pathetic war monger from Ukraine, threatening with each escalation to draw the U.S. into direct conflict with Russia, does not alarm the White House.
Similarly, the U.S. fumbling around the edges of another Middle East conflict, with implications for potential direct conflict with Iran, and possibly Russia and China, doesn’t seem to alarm the White House.
Millions of illegal immigrants pouring into the United States through our porous southern border also does not alarm the White House.
Inflation, a weaponized Department of Justice, street crime, crippling deficits, and the oxymoron of Democrats attempting to preserve democracy by killing it, all do not alarm the White House.
But a few fake skin pics of Taylor Swift on social media, now that’s alarmingly intolerable.
Biden must be envious of the popularity given to this strange, symbiotic relationship between a popular culture idol and the most popular pro sport in these United States.
It is the modern equivalent of the Roman bread and circuses. Then, a declining empire sought to distract and placate the masses by giving them free food and lavish spectacles
As for the current U.S., a web post by Pew Research put the number of SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) recipients the past April at 42 million people give or take. That’s only the tip of the iceberg, with SNAP being just one of 16 governmental programs designed to provide free food.
While the government can’t take direct credit for the NFL, it does share in the league’s popularity due to the ongoing anti-trust exemption granted to the NFL, NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball in regards to negotiating broadcasting rights collectively, the better to allow the masses to watch the games.
Fold in an overdose of Swift in each broadcast, viewed by a lot of people snacking on government handout food, and all seems almost well. Just ignore those barbarians racing across the Rio Grande.
You can find distraction from all the unpleasant reality again this Sunday.
Kansas City, Team Swift, is in Baltimore to play the Ravens in the AFC Championship contest. The Ravens, despite lacking a Swift-like presence dating one of the team’s players, have been installed as a 3.5-point favorite.
I correctly took the underdog Chiefs to win outright last week at Buffalo, an outcome achieved in large part due to an injury-depleted Buffalo defense, augmented by traditional Bills ineptitude – faking a punt for no apparent reason and yet another wide-right miss of a field goal.
Baltimore is better both offensively and defensively than Buffalo and placekicker Justin Tucker, the most accurate of his type in NFL history, isn’t likely to choke on a critical kick late.
Baltimore wins outright and covers the spread.
Later Sunday, Detroit is at San Francisco in the NFL title game, looking to earn a first-ever Super Bowl appearance with a win. San Francisco is favored by seven points.
Simply put, Detroit runs the ball well and the 49ers don’t stop the run particularly well. But San Francisco’s passing attack will be facing an especially poor pass defense from the Lions.
Despite winning in the previous round, San Francisco did not cover the spread, thereby giving me the only other pick I was correct about last weekend.
This week, benefiting from a wake-up call from Green Bay, and having supposedly healthy wide receiver Deebo Samuel back, the 49ers not only figure to win, but they will cover that seven-point spread.
In a bonus pick, take the over on calls that will be made by the NFL, CBS executives and Swift fans to suicide prevention hotlines if the Chiefs succumb as predicted.
Sam Ross Jr's site 