Q.  Would SSI favor a rule that said that an NFL team had to have 9 wins to enter the playoffs?

A.  About as much as it would favor a rule that said a blog had to have good content, in order to publish ....

There have been, what, 357 playoff teams in the NFL.  There have been 2 or 3 teams make it in with 8-8 records and, now, one at 7-9.

The existing rules --- > already keep these super-longshot teams down to a minimum.  Their rarity creates, for me, a delicious intrigue when they do occur.

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Q.  How about the home-field thing?

A.  You got me there.  I couldn't believe it when I realized the Saints-Seahawks game would be in our house.  ... I'm New Orleans, I'm in a rage about that.

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Q.  Shouldn't a championship tourney be only for the best teams?

A.  That is a thoroughly American attitude.

In England (just for example) the F.A. Cup invites not only 7-and-9 Premiership teams, but also 0-and-16 Premiership teams .... and teams from the league below the Premiership ... and teams from below that...

Hey, if a team shouldn't be running with the Big Dogs, it's up to the Big Dogs to prove it.  And put them back on the porch.

In 2007, Cardiff City went to the final of the F.A. Cup and they don't even play in the, um, NFL of soccer.  This would be a lot like MLB inviting two minor league teams to the playoffs, and one of them getting to the World Series.

In 2004, Millwall also reached the F.A. Cup final from outside the English top flight.

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Is it okay for the U.S. to participate in the World Cup?  Would it be okay for it to win it all?  I mean, the U.S. is hardly one of the elite of world soccer.  What are they doing in a tourney?

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Was it okay for Trevor Immelman to play in (and win) the Masters in 2008?

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American sportswriters, themselves never having competed in anything, push the idea that if you're not one of the very best, you have no right to bore us by fighting for a title.  The rest of the world doesn't know what we're talking about.

If the Seahawks don't belong in the playoffs, the Saints will deliver their judgment and condemnation next Saturday.  Everybody else, shut the deuce up.  ;- )  We mean it in a good way.

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Q.  On a visceral level, do the Seahawks have a chance?

A.  We remember two years after John Madden retired ... the Oakland Raiders made the playoffs as a wild card, and when they went on a run, the sportswriters were screaming bloody murder.

But the Raiders got hot when it mattered, ripped off three AFC wins in the postseason ... the 1981 Philadelphia Eagles had an amazing points differential of 384-222, easily beat the Cowboys and somebody in the postseason, and were heavily favored.

The Raiders crushed them, 27-10.  They were a dangerous team that got hot. 

Sportswriters think "Wild Card:  Unworthy.  Embarrassments."  The athletes on the field think, "This team got real good by the end of the season.

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I think that dark horses can become the best teams at a given moment of time.

This Seahawk team is way too flawed to win several games in a row against good teams, but they could get better all of a sudden, like the Raiders did.

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They'll have to,

Dr D