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Right on schedule. For this edition, J. Couch and I break down the divisions into separate nuggets of streaming files. This way, you don't have to sit through a 50-minute podcast. Even if said podcast culminates with a perfect Super Bowl matchup, as ours did in 2009. We'll do the AFC on Tuesday, the NFC on Wednesday, roll out big predictions and playoff trees Thursday.


Today, a thorough examination of the NFC which stands for "Notably Finer Cities." There's Kansas City, Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Cleveland; then there's Seattle, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta. I'd much rather live in San Francisco than Oakland. The AFC boasts the two best quarterbacks, the best defenses and the overall better football culture, but its best teams stem from Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Foxborough. All this without making a Cleveland or Buffalo joke about ugly women.

Good thing football is big enough for the relative disparity in resources and population to mean little. Any other sport, the Packers moved to Orlando decades ago. But I digress, enjoy our considerately arranged podcasts.

NFC West

NFC South

NFC North

NFC East

Right on schedule. For this edition, J. Couch and I break down the divisions into separate nuggets of streaming files. This way, you don't have to sit through a 50-minute podcast. Even if said podcast culminates with a perfect Super Bowl matchup, as ours did in 2009. We'll do the AFC on Tuesday, the NFC on Wednesday, roll out big predictions and playoff trees Thursday.


One in three American televisions tuned into the NFC Championship; Brett Favre against America's Sweethearts in January and the Greek tragedy that unfolded. There are likely several million stories of drunk goons stumbling home and elated fans falling in love and the dying wishes of elders being fulfilled. A watershed game in the only sport that suffocates our attention span. A galvanizing moment.

I was just happy to see Brad Childress lose. Some friends were watching down the street and two of the bigger personalities put $50 on the game and the broadcast yielded to an enormous pissing contests between rivaling, would-be alpha males. One guy chanted "who dat" to no end. Words were exchanged. He was left at a Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Around here, there's no better sport to follow. A perfectly-structured league that offers cyclical hope to every participant and its sympathizers, that culminates with satisfying and empirical endings. A game devoid of major controversies polluting the results we see with doubt; we can talk ourselves into reasonably believing as much at least. A game built for gambling. A game for the weekends. A game for the brown leaves, for the blizzards. A game for once-in-a-lifetime celebrations. A game for picking up where we left off: Saints-Vikings, Cowboys on the cusp, San Diego hoping to not choke away another home playoff game, Carolina finishing strong and for their lameduck coach. A game for new beginnings: estranged protege Aaron Rodgers facing the mentor, Detroit in capable hands, Mike Martz draining the genius part from his crazy genius moniker.

Onward to predictions!

AFC West

AFC South

AFC North

AFC East

On Thursday night, LeBron James will announce he's joining the New York Knicks. It's in stone.

LeBron James is joining his best friends and fellow all-world Olympic basketball gods Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami to complete an overwhelming triumvirate. It's a done deal.

LeBron James is too loyal and self-aware to rip out his city's heart on national television. It is written, James must stay and forge glory from good vibes.


At this point, only two facts are patently clear:

1. LeBron James is a special kind of megalomaniac.
2. If he chooses to ink with my beloved New York Knicks, I'll have to find another team.

The last time the Knicks mattered, I was on a high school band trip on the scenic Texas Gulf Coast, watching the Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady Raptors knock out the expensive, aging Allan Houston-Latrell Sprewell-Larry Johnson-Patrick Ewing Knicks. It was the spring of 2001, yet I'd fallen in love during the early '90s when NBA Jam emerged on the 5th grade sleepover scene and a Ewing-John Starks combination was the best path to downtown threes and boom-shacka-lacka jams.

The Knicks play in the country's biggest media market (a vital metric to the success of any second tier professional sport), are one of the NBA's most historic franchises. Yet when they previously tasted success, they were a defensive-minded, heartbreaking team notorious for choking, contending, playing with the grit and spark of their hometown.  

But a decade removed from any semblance of hope (save for a few months during the early winter months of 2004 when fiery young administrator, Isiah Thomas, made bold plays for the likes of Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway) means the spirit of the Knicks is long dead and a franchise's identity lies at a crossroads.

With offensive guru and former Phoenix Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, along with the signing/reunion of former Suns center Amar'e Stoudemire, along with, say, a point guard like San Antonio's Tony Parker and scoring blizzard, Syracuse hero Carmelo Anthony joining up in 2011, there's a free-flowing, cerebral core for a perpetual playoff contender sure to promise heartbreaking and rewarding spring flings. They'll steadily improve. They'll matter.

With Stoudemire, D'Antoni and LeBron James, the Knicks bandwagon is instantly overloaded with new-gen fans that principally pull for individual players, celebrities in baseball caps, wealthy and very real housewives, Spike Lee, insufferable hip-hop fans and worst of all, fairweather New Yorkers.

The Lakerization in fan culture is an instantly ghastly proposition, but more so when considering the central marketing force would be a farce of a man. Make no mistake, these truths are self-evident:

1. LeBron owes no one anything.

But ripping out the heart of a suffering city takes an Art Modell/Jack Parkman gene not present in hero athletes and admirable men.

But the self-aggrandizement of an hour-long special called "The Decision" means he's fiendishly milking the moment for all it's worth.


2. LeBron certainly has a right to move forward, join forces with his best shot at winning. This is America, advancement is fundamental.

But it means the only two choices are talent-rich, supporting-cast-in-tact Chicago or cutting ties with at least $30 million, hijacking the league with Bosh and Wade in Miami in an ego-checking move reminiscent of the 2008 Boston Celtics.


3. LeBron can chase immortality and the impossible task of restoring titles to the New York Knicks and he just may have the talent and star-power to elevate the NBA past college football as the number two sport in America.

But it means James is a special kind of cocksucker because he'd sacrifice money, the heart and soul and economy of a suffering region that's championed him for nearly a decade and championships (Jordan or Russell would have long ago signed with these Bulls or this Heat force in the making) for a big city with bright lights. He's like that prick from your high school that sells out his parents for an NYU education, that spends Thanksgiving breaks touting the culture, food and nightlife...if that prick from your high school simultaneously left a major dent in the local economy upon departure.

• Rammellzee died.
  
• Jay-Z and Eminem took over The Late Show with David Letterman as tickets swiftly sold out through devilish gatekeepers for their pair of September shows in Detroit and New York.
• Eminem released the generally well-received Recovery and sold an astonishing 741,000 copies. Take that, Jayson Greene.
  
• Trae's war on Houston radio got increasingly ugly.
• The elusive, frustrating Son of Chico Dusty leaked. It's good.
• LeBron James speculation ran rampant. He clearly wants to play in New York and for a contender, so ATG projects a record-breaking pile of money and five-year max deal from the Harlem Globetrotters.
  
• The Roots, Rhymefest, The Dream, Z-Ro and Nappy Roots released albums.

Kanye West featuring Dwele - Power

What's been the best Thank Me Later leak thus far? How many units will this move when it drops June 15?
Does Drake know what he's doing?

I'll say "Miss Me," 500,000 and yes.


1. Fireworks (Feat. Alicia Keys) [Produced by Crada, 40]
2. Karaoke [Produced by Francis and the Lights]
3. The Resistance  [Produced by 40]
4. Over [Produced by Boi-1 da]
5. Show Me A Good Time [Produced by Kanye West]
6. Up All Night (Feat. Nicki Minaj)  [Produced by Boi-1 da]
7. Fancy (Feat. TI and Swizz Beatz)  [Produced by Swizz Beatz]
8. Shut It Down (Feat. The Dream) [Produced by Omen, 40]
9. Unforgettable (Feat. Young Jeezy) [Produced by Boi-1 da, 40]
10. Light Up (Feat. Jay-Z) [Produced by Tone Mason, 40]
11. Miss Me (Feat. Lil Wayne) [Produced by Boi-1 da, 40]
12. Cece's Interlude [Produced by 40]
13. Find Your Love [Produced by Kanye West, Jeff Basker, No I.D.]
14. Thank Me Now [Produced by Timbaland]

The other two parts after the jump. Peace to Yardie.

Interesting interview, T.I. is very guarded and defensive throughout.