Exciting Weekend

Time for another great weekend of sports! We've got the Cotton Bowl, where hopefully as I predicted, my Red Raiders demolish Ole Miss. Also we've got the first NBA games of the new year as well as the NFL Wild Card round.

First off, my Showtime Lakers have a big game against the Jazz. Looking forward to seeing Kobe hopefully go off for 40, he has a history against Utah. There's a couple of other great NBA games to look forward to. The Hornets are in Portland to take on the Blazers, that should be an awesome game. Toronto against Houston should be good, as well as the all-Florida matchup of the Heat and Magic. One more interesting game should be the 76ers against the Mavs in a matchup of two mediocre teams that began the season with high playoff hopes. This could be a turning point in one of these two teams' seasons.

Finally, here is my first NFL Playoff matchup preview.

Our first game is the Atlanta Falcons versus the NFC West Champion Arizona Cardinals:

The Cardinals come in with their explosive passing offense, led by Kurt Warner and his two amazing receivers, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. The Falcons come in with one of the top running attacks in the NFL with Michael Turner. Of course they also have Offensive Rookie of the Year Matt Ryan.

What I think will be important in this game is how Atlanta's running game will allow them to keep the Cardinals' offense off the field. The Falcons will control time of possession. The Falcons also have a good defense that will shut down the poor Arizona running game, allowing them to concentrate on stopping the passing attack.

Arizona has a poor defense that will have a tough time stopping Atlanta's balanced offense. Also, the Cardinals have just plain out looked TERRIBLE in December. They are in the playoffs because they won a poor division.

A key factor could be that the game is in Arizona, but truth be known, the Cardinals do not have the strongest fan base. I love that Ken Whisenhunt has been able to lead them to the playoffs, and the fans are somewhat excited, but Atlanta's story is just too great. A rookie quarterback and head coach having the season they are having is just remarkable.

My final prediction: Falcons win the game 28-17.