The Blue Jackets gave up a late tying goal in the third but picked up two points with an OT win against the Flyers.
The Cheat SheetBy Kevin McGuire on

Will you join me in feeling culturally inadequate after the Golden Globes?

The Golden Globes were last night. If you were like me, you probably lost interest pretty quickly as you came to the realization you watched maybe two or three shows or movies that actually won anything. But, I watched and was encouraged by some of the awards to maybe try catching a movie or two on Netflix or cable when possible. But who am I kidding? I’ll probably just end up watching the complete opposite like the next batch of superhero movies and Impractical Jokers reruns on TruTV instead. But hey, as my grandmother always said, that’s why they make chocolate and vanilla.

Aaron Rodgers slices through Swiss cheese Giants defense as boat jokes and rants ignite (the Seahawks won too)

This hole was allegedly the result of Odell Beckham Jr. letting out some frustration after a rough loss in Green Bay.
This hole was allegedly the result of Odell Beckham Jr. letting out some frustration after a rough loss in Green Bay.

Those who have been reading my Monday morning editions of The Cheat Sheet know how amazed I am by Aaron Rodgers and the way he has led a turnaround for the Green Bay Packers this season. That roll continued on Sunday in the NFC Wild Card matchup with the New York Giants, although it got off to a slow start in Lambeau Field. Rodgers passed for 362 yards and four touchdowns and shrugged off being sacked five times to lead Green Bay to a decisive 38-13 victory against Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. While the story should fall on what Rodgers is doing, like hurling up a Hail Mary at the end of the first half….

… the story most will be discussing today will be Odell Beckham Jr.’s underwhelming performance and the impact going on a boat trip in Miami six days prior. Let me stop you right there for a moment before we continue. First, going on a boat trip in Miami six days earlier had zero impact on Beckham’s performance on Sunday. Second, don’t trick yourself into thinking it did.

But, you have to admire the thought that went into the design for Odell Beckham’s pregame cleats with famous mice on the Swiss cheese-designed cleats.

Too bad OBJ was nothing but a hot slice of stinky cheese in this one. On a side note, I cannot believe we spent so much time this football season paying attention to the designs of pregame cleats. How silly is that?

And if it’s playoff time in the NFC again, that means the Detroit Lions were scheduled to be royally screwed by NFL officials on the call of a controversial catch. This time it came in Seattle (where bizarre officiating decisions have been known to happen before)…

It’s true. That was a blown call by the officials, but that had nothing to do with the result of the game. The Seahawks went on to defeat the Lions 26-6 in the wild card game on Saturday, which sends the Seahawks on to the next round to play on the road against the Atlanta Falcons this Saturday. The Seahawks won the regular season meeting, 26-24 in Seattle in the first quarter of the season but are 2-3-1 in their road games since that meeting. One of those wins was in New England and one was a loss with five whole points scored at Tampa Bay, so who knows what to expect this weekend.

Steelers, Texans advance to next round following their own blowouts of disinterest

Le'Veon Bell once again put on a show, this time at the expense of the Dolphins.
Le’Veon Bell once again put on a show, this time at the expense of the Dolphins.

The matchups in the AFC were seriously lacking in drama from start to finish this weekend, which is a shame because it was just a couple of weeks ago the Oakland Raiders looked like they could be something special this postseason before losing Derek Carr to a season-ending injury. The Raiders were forced to go with third-string quarterback Connor Cook, a rookie who just so happened to be making his first NFL start on the road in the playoffs against one of the finest defenses in the NFL, the Houston Texans. It did not go well for Cook and the Raiders, who saw their otherwise wonderful season come to a crashing halt in the final weeks after being eliminated with a 27-14 loss. The Texans head to New England next week, so we get a storyline of Bill Belichick vs. Bill O’Brien for a week, which should ultimately end with the teacher schooling the protege to advance to the AFC Championship Game without little contest. The Patriots are already a 16.0-point favorite according to David Purdum of ESPN.com. That’s the most lopsided spread for a playoff game since 1998.

I’ll set the over-under on camera shots of an injured J.J. Watt cheering his teammates on at 824.5 next weekend.

There wasn’t much reason to pay attention very long in Sunday’s AFC Wild Card matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins. Heck, CBS didn’t even bother getting the first down line looking right. Le’Veon Bell put on another brilliant display of running the football for 167 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Steelers to a 30-12 victory that wasn’t even that close in frigid Pittsburgh.

The most dramatic thing to happen this weekend may have come after the Steelers game when linebackers coach Joey Porter was arrested for an alleged altercation with a Pittsburgh cop outside a local bar.

https://twitter.com/atxpkrgolf/status/818313774008565760

And while on the topic of Matt Moore, let’s discuss the integrity of the NFL’s concussion protocol, shall we?

Also, with the Steelers now heading to Kansas City to face the Chiefs next weekend, this might be at least a mild ocncern in the Steel City…

Here’s something our future President will be tweeting about today

Meryl Streep won an award for winning a ton of awards, basically, and took the opportunity to roast Donald Trump.
Meryl Streep won an award for winning a ton of awards, basically, and took the opportunity to roast Donald Trump.

The Golden Globes kicked off Hollywood’s award circuit last night with the Hollywood Foreign Press getting their chance to hand out a bunch of awards to movies and television shows you either never got around to seeing, had little interest in seeing or simply didn’t know existed. Well, except for our main Hollywood critic Ian Casselberry, of course. Honestly, I’m so out of touch with this stuff I had no idea La La Land was actually a musical until last night when it started sweeping the floor with its trophy collection. The topic most likely to be discussed from the evening comes from the iconic Meryl Streep during an acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award (because it’s about damn time Hollywood found a way to honor what this remarkable woman has done in this industry after all these years) when she suggested the best performance of 2016 was not portrayed by her but by none other than the next President of the United States, Donald Trump. She did not mention Trump by name in the clip below, but there was no mistaking who she was referring in her comments that will be guaranteed to ignite a Twitter rant from Trump…

The whole night was full of shots at Trump, which is to be expected coming out of Hollywood. Earlier in the evening, Hugh Laurie accepted his award for Best Supporting Actor in a Series or Miniseries for his role in The Night Manager and made a little more of a light-hearted shot at the future president.

On a lighter note, how about a shoutout for MIGOS?

McGuire’s Mini Musings: Alabama vs. Clemson is The Rematch Of the Century

Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban are college football's The Odd Couple, as this photo demonstrates.
Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban are college football’s The Odd Couple, as this photo demonstrates.

A year ago, Clemson entered the College Football Playoff championship game with an undefeated record and the number one ranking in the nation with the hope of becoming the first 15-0 team in FBS history. That mission fell just shy with an epic loss against Alabama in the championship game. This year the roles are reversed in the first true national championship rematch in FBS history, with Alabama entering as the No. 1 team with a 14-0 record and on the cusp of making history. Standing in the way is a potentially even more dangerous (and confident) Clemson squad. The two teams have lost a total of three games in the past two seasons, including Clemson’s loss to Alabama. After a drab weekend of NFL playoff football, we may finally get a great one tonight down in Tampa, where the first CFB Playoff national championship game to be played outdoors will unfold.

Clemson has a fantastic chance to win this game, but I’m on record (via Athlon Sports) going with Alabama by a field goal, 26-23.

Quick Hits

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The Blue Jackets gave up a tying goal very late in the third but picked up two points with an OT win vs. Philly.

– The Columbus Blue Jackets had their insane winning streak snapped recently, but the Jackets have now won one game in a row thanks to an overtime wrister from Nick Foligno against the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime. The Flyers tied the game at 1-1 with just 16 seconds remaining in the third period.

– The timing feels a little off for a college football coaching change right now with National Signing Day less than a month away, but Cal made news Sunday by firing head coach Sonny Dykes. The most alarming reason for the sudden coaching change appears to be hurt feelings from him interviewing for other potential jobs. The question now is who does Cal line up as a replacement, and was somebody already in line to take the job? Chip Kelly is available, and a return to the Pac-12 would seem to be a great fit, but if Dykes was getting interest from other programs, then you know Kelly is going to draw some interest in the next coaching carousel, so don’t count on Chip to Cal.

Cal joins Western Michigan in search of a new head coach after Western Michigan recently lost P.J. Fleck to Minnesota. Speaking of which…

– Fleck was on hand at a Minnesota basketball game on Sunday and took on the task of tossing bowls to the world famous Red Panda!

– The Cleveland Browns hired Gregg Williams for reasons beyond comprehension for some, including our Sam Blazer.

– Colin Kaepernick donated a garage full of shoes to the homeless, and somebody will probably find a way to criticize him for it.

– Chris Paul joined the 8,000-assist club this weekend. He seemed thrilled with his feat after the game.

– Duke’s Grayson Allen recently returned from a one-game suspension after his antics tripping opponents got out of hand. But at least he learned his lesson, OR DID HE?

– Tensions came to a boil between the women’s basketball teams from UNLV and Utah State over the weekend. There was also this heated exchange between coaches from the Georgia and Missouri basketball teams. And file this one under crazy comebacks of the year.

– Here’s an 8th grade basketball team celebrating a win a little too early, only to lose on a buzzer-beater…

– Quick! Who played the best Joker in Batman history, TV or film. Did you say Mark Hamill? That’s a passable answer. Hamill may be best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, but he is also the voice of one of the most popular versions of Batman’s chief nemesis, Joker. Hamil provided the voice of Joker in the old Batman animated series and has since reprised his role for animated Batman standalone projects. Now, he’s even reading tweets from Donald Trump in his signature Joker voice.

– Baseball lover Joe O’Neill, a true historian of the game, has completed his mission of attending each Major League Baseball stadium and has taken the liberty of providing his own personal ranking of each from best (AT&T Park, San Francisco Giants) to worst (O.co Coliseum, Oakland Athletics). Go check out how he ranks them and tell him why Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia is grossly underrated. You can tell him I sent you.

– A snow park in Atlanta was closed this weekend. Why? Too much snow in the area, obviously.

– If only we could have had a weather issue to prevent us from seeing the Purdue mascot twerking…

– When all you want is a six-piece chicken nugget kids meal and an Orange Hi-C but all they have is fruit punch Hi-C.

https://twitter.com/KatzM/status/817845164597198850

– Early candidate for cheap shot of 2017?

One last gratuitous moment of procrastination

Meet Alabama punter JK Scott. He can probably solve a Rubik’s Cube faster than you. Me? I just take the stickers off and move them where I need them.

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.

View all posts by Kevin McGuire