Not to get all political here…again…but picking a winner for the NFC Championship Game based on the tax burden of each team’s home state is a little goofy. But NBC Chicago’s Edward McClelland

Quarterback Jay Cutler will earn $7.6 million in 2011 (still not enough to put him in a good mood). He’ll keep a lot more of that money as a Bear than he would as a Packer. After deducting $2,000 for the personal exemption as a single man, Cutler has a taxable income of $7,598,000. At a 5 percent tax rate, he’ll owe $379,900.

Now, imagine Cutler were traded to Green Bay. He’d have $7,599,300 in taxable income (because Wisconsin has a lower exemption), and, at Wisconsin’s top rate of 7.75 percent, he’d owe $588,945.75 — a difference of over 200 grand. I don’t know what Cutler does for fun — or whether Cutler ever has fun — but $200,000 can pay for a lot of it.[..]

High taxes may provide a high standard of living, but they don’t bring out the best on the gridiron. Look at Texas. They don’t even have a state income tax, and the Cowboys have won five Super Bowls.

–NBC Chicago.

Athletes get hosed on taxes, especially football players. An NFL player usually has to pay taxes his home state, plus in whatever state he happens to be playing. So maybe tax burden isn’t such a bad way to measure football prowess after all. Whatever. It’s still better than anything the Keynesians would have configured.

In what was accurately set up as a “play-in game” for the NFL Playoffs, the Seattle Seahawks beat the St. Louis Rams to win the NFC West, one of the few division titles up for grabs heading into Sunday’s action. The ‘Hawks became the first NFL team ever to win their division or qualify for a post-season berth with more losses than wins.

“There is no apologies for making it into the playoffs. The easiest way to make it to the playoffs is to win your division, period, point-blank,” Seattle safety Lawyer Milloy said. “We did that.”

Most people can live with a 7-9 team in the playoffs, but a lot of folks are bent that Seattle will get a 4-seed in the NFC “bracket” and host a playoff game, while 10-6 teams like Tampa Bay and the New York Giants won’t be in the post-season at all. I’ve said it before; winning a division should give a team precedence over those that couldn’t, and the fact that it’s the Seahawks getting the nod will make their wild card game against the Saints all the more fun. We can leave those refugees in the Superdome for another week now. What’s that? There are no more refugees? I really need to start following things other than sports.

After the San Francisco 49ers were pummeled by the San Diego Chargers last night, they still only trail the leaders of their division by a single game. It just so happens that the Niners are still in the playoff hunt with a 9-5 FIVE AND NINE record, and this has a lot of people’s panties in a bunch.

People shouldn’t be so amazed that the NFC West could likely send a 7-9 team into the playoffs. What is amazing (to me) is how all of these people are crying foul over it. These are the rules that the league set up: Each NFC West team will have played each other twice, they’ll have played one game against every team in the NFC South (who have all been awesome, save Carolina, who will finally be getting rid of John Fox), and one game each against the teams of a competitive AFC West. That’s 14 common games, and if the NFL decides that they want to give a home game to the best team out of that format, they should do so.

If the NFL wanted to seed its postseason based on overall record, it needs to do one of two things: either balance the intraconference schedule so that every team plays each other once, or just get rid of divisions altogether, because they would mean nothing if the best team from that format wasn’t rewarded. The league set up a good system for postseason qualification and they should stick to it. The cries of “deserving” teams should only validate the strength of that system. This isn’t the BCS, ya know.

This is actually a really touching story, and not in the good touch/bad touch sort of way–it’s simply amazing.  Down in Orlando, Freedom High School’s girls’ soccer team retired #12 at their final game of the season.  That #12 belongs to a very special and spirited girl named Bree McMahon, whose legs were crushed in an incident with a car during a car wash fundraiser in September.  After eight operations and on-ongoing rehabilitation, Bree is already learning to walk with a prosthesis.  Before proudly sending her team out onto the field the night of January 13th,  she left them with these words,

“Never give up. If anyone says ‘No’ or that ‘You can’t’ then push harder and prove them wrong. If you try your hardest and never give up, you’ll never have anything to regret.”–Fanhouse

It is words like these, her courage and her strength that made a huge impact on Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell and his wife, who live in Orlando and keep up with their hometown news.

“The first time I contacted her, her reply back was, ‘If you’re praying for me, you need to pray for the driver of the car. She’s my best friend,’” Longwell said Friday, after the Vikings wrapped up their final practice in preparation for Sunday’s playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. “I mean, for somebody in that situation to be able to look at others and worry about others, that just says a lot about her heart and her drive. She’s an amazing girl.”–Fanhouse

Ryan and Bree talk regularly on the phone and via text. Rather than being a rock for her and helping her keep it together, she has been a major inspiration for him and the way he views life.  Heading into the NFC playoff game against Dallas, Bree McMahon will most certainly be on his mind.  Longwell’s field goal percentage this season is the highest it has ever been at 92.9% (up 7.6% over last season) and his PAT is at 98.2%.  Though she was raised a Dolfan, there is no doubt that Bree will be cheering on Longwell and the Vikings harder than anyone else tomorrow.