I hope you haven’t been betting my picks. Jesus, what a mess.

1. I forgot to never fade the Patriots at home…. especially when they have two weeks to prepare. It was over but quick. How great did Tom Brady look! Grrrr.

2. The Colts’ performance baffled me. That said I think we’re learning that the Chiefs are improving on defense and especially at home.

3. I was on the right side for the Saints and Rams, but I missed how those games went by a long shot.

Oh well, to hell with all that. My role here is to mine some great YouTube videos involving our combatants for this weekend’s conference title games.

Los Angeles Rams at New Orleans Saints

Sunday January 20, 2019

This may seem like a dull Rams/Saints game on a random Sunday in 1978 and you would be right. The gold is in the commercial content I found picking up in the third quarter tied at 3-3.

Right off the jump we get the end of a Ford commercial. Before you buy a 1979 Pinto you should see this.

Fuck yeah! I want one too! Not so fast. That $3700 sticker price advertised in’ 78 is over $14,000 bucks today. I did however locate one for $850. It may have been sitting in a field for a minute.

Here’s the broadcast.

Hank Stram was on the color for CBS. Such a character, and not long from his final coaching gig at the helm of these same hapless Saints. (Hapless was a popular sports term for bad teams in my youth.) This will give you a great overview into the man and it will cost you no “coin of the realm.”

Not long after the Pinto spot we find a promo for a Kristy McNichol CBS TV movie called “Like Mom, Like Me.” Near as I can figure they’re both learning about their touchie feelies, and mom is probably screwing the not as good looking guy from the show Emergency. They used to make TV movies that would air once or twice and disappear forever. Anyway, this is a football game. Seems like they’re missing their target audience.

Okay fuck this game. At the 4:55 mark they reminded me my Seahawks were beating the snot out of the Raiders 24-0 and look at this! The late great Charlie Jones and Len Dawson were on the call from the Kingdome. You remember Len Dawson don’t you!

We pick it up just before the second half kick off with the Hawks up 21-0.

We think of the Raiders of that era as a machine, but they were merely pretty good in 78. The Hawks meanwhile were on their way to a 9-7 mark and the franchise’s first ever winning season.

Ok gotta move along. I’ll enjoy more of this one later. Always fun to kick Raider ass back in the day.

My pick: Saints 31 Rams 27

New England Patriots at Kansas City Chiefs

Sunday January 20, 2019

My search for meaningful Patriots/Chiefs TV footage from back in the day has been fruitless so I’m going to go in a different direction.

The Chiefs have been so good this season it’s easy to forget they haven’t been in this position in a generation. January 23, 1994…. It did not go well.

Man I miss Dick Enberg. Chiefs fan does not miss Marty Schottenheimer.

To find Kansas City’s last win in this spot we have to go all the way back to the 10th and final AFL Championship game on January 4, 1970.

This is pretty amazing stuff. Posted last fall is the radio broadcast married with whatever game footage they could find.

The Chiefs would prevail that day 17-7 and go on to easily defeat the Vikings in the Super Bowl.

It’s easy to forget that the New England Patriots were not always an automatic entrant into the title game. After winning an AFL playoff game in 1963 (see last week’s post) the Pats wouldn’t find post season success again until 1985. They beat the Jets, Raiders, and Dolphins to qualify for Super Bowl 20 only to get swamped by the suffocating 1985 Bears 46-10. What do we remember about that game?

At any rate it was a good run for that Pats team led by quarterback Tony Eason and a with a great offensive line . As big a dick as he is Craig James was a really good back.

(Bonus at the 20 minute mark below. A VCR commercial. We’ve come a long way. And thank God for obsessive home recorders. There’s so much outstanding content floating around in the ether. Great for a long winter’s night.)

My Pick: Patriots 35 Chiefs 32