The stupidity has started.

the Jets are assured a victory next week is an idiotic moron.

Nothing wrong or stupid about being confident that they have a chance though.

but Jason Cole and three other NFL writers from Yahoo have already picked the Colts to win, John Clayton has a good write up with 10 things about the AFC title game – with #10 being the Colts win and Kuharsky also has a new article up on how hard it is to get to Peyton.

So I think anyone who knows what they are talking about knows that the Jets have a huge mountain to climb and that Indy is the favorite to win this game.

and split my vote two ways. “Team X should win, but Team Y has 1 and 2 and 3 going for it so if they pull all that off, it’ll be interesting.”

It’s practically the training exam at ESPN to fill in for those variables. So basically, we get the vote but less ink. Afterwards, whichever team wins, they can claim some credit.

Let the stupidity flow, bask in it. The game will wash that stink off, until the next week when the favretastic favres are in Miami for one final showdown or the truly MVP-deserving nice-guy Brees brings his high voltage attack.

The Colts, and especially Manning, get their share of media love, so don’t begrudge the other guys getting theirs, justified or not. These journos/bloggers/flapping gums HAVE to write about something and we’re starved enough to read it. I shamefacedly admit I am. Frankly, if the Colts use clippings for motivation, then the more the merrier. (I suspect this is a team that ignores the papers as much as possible. In fact, in the last game on the play just BEFORE Manning yelled to Brown “Goddammit Donald” I distinctly heard him say to Dallas, “How long has Baywatch been cancelled? Where the hell have I been, man?”)

There is probably an equation to represent the fact that the amount of stupidity in the universe is a constant, but our perception of it increases the more we think it should not be there. During wars and election years, everything everybody says is stupid, but we expect it, so hardly notice it. When something really clear-cut and obvious is out there—the best team, best movie, best new product, then we notice an incredible amount of contrary, stupid, bass-ackward stuff that seems to embolden other idiots, or actually sways them to think the same way.

Just remember your media talking points—the perceptive half of them who can adapt to new observations will be saying how well we stop the run because of team speed, while the idiots will keep repeating that we’re soft on the run, that Manning’s a choker and has been since his first tooth emerged, and they’ll probably be blaming Vanderjagt for something…. it’s like a script with check-boxes. Make fun of Irsay? Check. Piped-in crowd noise? Check. Polian punches old ladies at the grocery store? Check. Choker, over-exposed pitch-man, soft, small, finesse, check, checkaroo, checkedy-check-check and mate.

but you should know that “mooks” is a derogatory term for black people, at least in the northeast.