There are few things that are certain in this world, with the most famous two being death and taxes. Anything in Sports doesn't fall into that category because when the stars align just right, something like the "Miracle On Ice" can take place. Well, Terry Bradshaw didn't seem to think that was the case, and it was humanly impossible for the Bengals to beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh this last Sunday. How sure was he? Well let's go back and take a look....

I never really pay attention to the prediction aspect of the Super Bowl, but rather the random collection of people that are asked their opinion on the game. ESPN apparently tried to come up with the most comprehensive/random list possible, and here's some of their "celebrity" picks....

Picking the Steelers: Arnold Palmer, Bill O'Reilly, Yogi Berra, Jimmie Johnson, Penn and Teller, Wolf Blitzer, Placido Domingo, Matthew Modine, Don Rickles, Howie Mandel, Joan Jett, Mark Cuban, Tracey Morgan, Haley Joel Osment, Kurt Angle, Ted McGinley

Picking the Cardinals: Maya Angelou, Jenna Fischer (The Office), Serena Williams, Condoleezza Rice, Phyllis Diller, Wayne Newton, Mickey Rooney, Dick Clark, Jennie Finch, Stacey Keibler, Danica Patrick, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Florence Henderson, Adam West, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Vanilla Ice

Picking Barack Obama: Dennis Miller (seriously)

Good to know that Dennis Miller is still as lame as ever. As far as the people that are actually paid to cover the game? Here they are....

Picking the Steelers: Chris Berman, Merril Hoge, Mike Ditka, Ron Jaworski, Chris Mortensen, Skip Bayless, Scott Van Pelt, Mike Greenberg, Mike Golic, Tom Jackson, Trey Wingo, Trent Dilfer, Jay Glazer, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson

Picking the Cardinals: Keyshawn Johnson, Emmitt Smith, Steve Young, Stuart Scott, Mark Schlereth, Cris Carter

Obviously the majority of talking heads are on the Steelers, but a lot of celebs are backing the Cardinals. I guess everyone loves an underdog!

Celeb picks (ESPN)

(posted by One More Dying Quail)

Last year, I tried my hand at using some logical analysis to predict the winner of the Kentucky Derby (I failed. Never use, "The horse has one eye!" as your number one reason for choosing a particular horse). This time around, I'll still pick a winner, but a much more reasonable method will be used: guesstimation.

Well, sort of. I actually looked at those two links below and picked a couple of my favorite names. Here we go (in order of finish - I think)...

1. Anak Nakal (50-1) - Means "mischievous child" in Indonesian. I've got one of those.
2. Eight Belles (10-1) - She's a lady horse. I'm all about Women's Lib.
3. Big Truck (40-1) - Gets his name from his sire, Hook and Ladder. My father was a firefighter for thirty years.
4. Denis of Cork (25-1) - I'm pretty sure at least part of my family came from County Cork, Ireland.

For the record, the overall favorites are Big Brown (2-1), Colonel John (4-1), and Pyro (5-1).

Twenty Reasons to bet Twenty Horses: 2008 Kentucky Derby (Joe Sports Fan)
What’s in a name? Lots for the 20 Derby horses (Yahoo! Sports)
Kentucky Derby Odds (gohorsebetting.com)

Just noticed that ESPN has predictions from several analysts:

Randy Moss: Big Brown
Bill Finley: Big Brown
Hank Goldberg: Colonel John
Jay Cronley: Pyro
Jay Privman: Colonel John
Jeremy Plonk: Colonel John

(posted by One More Dying Quail)

I took a trip into the official Awful Announcing Archives tonight, trying to find any posts I did on the Kentucky Derby last year, and made an interesting discovery: the events of Saturday, May 5, 2007 bore a startling resemblance to those of Friday, May 2, 2008.

2007: Utah eliminates Houston in Game 7 of their first round playoff series.
2008: Utah eliminates Houston in Game 6 of their first round playoff series.

2007: Chien-Ming Wang pitches a gem to beat the Seattle Mariners.
2008: Chien-Ming Wang pitches a gem to beat the Seattle Mariners.

2007: I miss the Kentucky Derby while attending my nephew's birthday party. My pick, Storm in May, finishes 16th.
2008: I miss the Kentucky Derby while having dinner with friends. My pick, TBD, finishes well off the lead (I'm assuming this prediction will come true).

2007: Oscar De La Hoya loses to Floyd Mayweather.
2008: Oscar De La Hoya is scheduled to fight Steve Forbes on Saturday. Not a perfect match, but still weird.

More to come later on the Derby and other notable events of the weekend.