2008 began with a shaky-cam monster movie (you forgot about Cloverfield didn’t you?) and is ending with the usual crop of Oscar-baiting prestige films (and Valkyrie).  And in between…there was The Dark Knight (and, even bigger, the Dark Knight hype).  So how good a year was 2008 at the cinema?  Not nearly as good as 2007.  But there were still some pretty memorable pieces of work…from a scathing assault on religious silliness to a tale of a washed-up rassler with a thing for strippers and cheesy ’80s rock to, well, The Dark Knight.
And now one last review of the stuff [...]

Eric Mangini is no longer the head coach of the New York Jets, having been jettisoned on Monday after leading the team to a 9-7 record one year after they slumped to 4-12.  9-7 might seem pretty good after 4-12, until you realize that at one point this season they were 8-3 and looked poised to make a Super Bowl run.  Then lots of bad stuff started happening, mostly the fault of Brett Favre whose arm has apparently petered out after 18 seasons and countless thousands of throws.  The team limped to a 1-4 finish and missed the playoffs…and what [...]

The Packers have had a disastrous season by any standard, but at least they’ve been able to reassure themselves that they’ve found a quarterback to carry them into the future while that other guy fades slowly off into the swampy sunset.  The new kid on the block, Aaron Rodgers, has been everything the Packer faithful could’ve asked for and more.  It’s not his fault the rest of the team is an unholy mess that can’t even squeak out a win at home against the Houston Texans.  With any luck, the Packers will be able to re-tool in other areas, and [...]

Tennessee is back on top after throttling the Steelers.  The Giants are surging back too after stumbling.  And there sit the Colts, just chugging away.

Everyone outside of Dallas knows Texas Stadium is a dump that deserved to be blown up years ago.  The folks in the Metro area, however, have continued carrying a torch for the venue in spite of its ever-increasing dilapidation – for the same irrational, sentimental reasons a man may remain attached to a woman even if she’s an 80-pound meth-head with no teeth and a tendency to mumble random Bible quotes and bleed from the eye sockets.  Even such crazed love affairs must end though, as Cowboys fans all realized when they turned out last night to bid farewell to [...]

All I wanted for Christmas was at least another month without any Brett Favre retirement speculation.  Unfortunately, I am not going to get my wish.  And you know whose fault it is?  Brett Favre’s.  He had the choice to let a sleeping dog lie until at least after the playoffs, but instead, he decided to open his trap about it during one of his confessional/press conferences and now…well, the cat’s out of the bag, to mix animal-related metaphors.  In case you missed it, here’s the video of Brett officially opening the ‘08-’09 Will Brett Favre Retire Speculation Season:

He’s so subtle [...]

There’s a new #1 team in the land kiddies – an NFC team, but not the Giants.  I bet you’re in suspense now, eh?  Also…it looks like the Cowboys have weathered the storm, just like the Eagles before them.  Full power rankings after the jump:

The Redskins started the season winning 6-of-8, and Jim Zorn was being hailed as a Coach of the Year candidate.  Since then, Washington has lost 5-of-6, and Zorn is closer to being fired than handed any kind of award.  Losing breeds internal strife, especially when the losing comes fast on the heels of winning and the expectations said winning fosters.  That the Redskins are suffering scads of such turmoil became obvious last week when Clinton Portis called Zorn out, sarcastically referring to him as “a genius.”  So what did the Redskins do in response to all this adversity?  Lost to [...]