Following in the paths of last year's boring NCAA basketball championship (UConn 82, Georgia Tech 73), an NBA Finals blowout (Pistons 4, Lakers 1), a World Series sweep I didn't plan to watch anyway (Hey, Cardinals, you can start playing now) and a BCS championship rout (USC 55, Oklahoma 19), the NFL Playoffs have been a dud for any disinterested party.

The average margin of victory in the 10 postseason games has been 14.3. The only three games decided by a touchdown or less were maybe the least-anticipated games of the playoffs: Rams 27-20 over Seahawks, Jets 20-17 (OT) over Chargers and Steelers 20-17 (OT) over Jets. The rest of these games SUCKED.

In the last two weekends, we've seen six games. The margins of victory have been 3, 30, 13, 17, 17 and 14, with the favorites prevailing in all and the most-tense moments involving Doug Brien. Not Peyton Manning or Michael Vick or Brett Favre, but Doug Brien. The only thing that kept my attention in these fourth quarters was whether or not Randy Moss would shake his dick, as threatened.

My 9-1 record picking against the spread notwithstanding, I want a do-over.

In the end, we did end up with a great Super Bowl matchup, the two best teams and two of the three best quarterbacks in the game. The Pats are an early 6-point favorite, and I'll be placing my favorite bet: that the first coach's challenge overturns the ruling on the field.

Other Sports Ruminations:

• I've lost count of how many times Chris Berman made me feel uneasy with his sanctimonious declarations, but his intro to SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays ranks at the top. He waxed poetic on Johnny Carson, something about America losing its best friend. Not a sentence or two, but a mini-essay. He reminded us that he wasn't comparing what he does, or anyone else at ESPN, with what Carson did. To even suggest that anyone would compare his work to Carson's was just weird. It just seemed so out of place, Berman telling us how to feel about a non-sports man's death when he's about to introduce highlights from college basketball and the Australian Open. In conclusion, he said, "It's with the spirit of Johnny Carson that we move forward with our Top 10 Plays." Huh?

• Bill Cowher just has to go for that touchdown on 4th-and-2, down 14 early in the fourth quarter. If they get into the end zone, the stadium is up for grabs. If the Pats hold, the crowd's still gonna try to help the Steelers bury New England deep in its own territory. As it was, Pittsburgh put three points on the board and turned the crowd off ... once they stopped booing.

Mainly, here's why you go. Because every Pats fan in the world wanted Pittsburgh to play it safe and kick. And when 100% of the opposition wants you to do something, then it's in your best interest to do something else.

• I was perusing Basketball Reference, just to uncover a stat or two that might interest you. So how's this? Artis Gilmore has six of the NBA's top 14 single-season field-goal shooting percentages, is the league's all-time leader in shooting percentage (.599), is an 11-time ABA/NBA All-Star and is not in the basketball Hall of Fame. (Then again, Gheorghe Muresan, is fourth all-time in FGP.)

Staying on the field-goal percentage front, Wilt Chamberlain owns the highest single-season mark (by a wide margin), a sick .727 in his last season, when he was 36 years old. He also pulled down 18.6 rebounds per game (his third-lowest season total) and banged 143 chicks a week.

Among the top 100 season field-goal shooting percentages, Michael Jordan had none (not even close), and the best in the 2000s was No. 50 — Eddy Curry, .585, 2002-03.

• Anyone see a crazed Brian Dawkins being interviewed by Terry Bradshaw after the Eagles win? I thought we had a 99% chance of an f-bomb or two being launched.

• As a Knicks fan, I'll take sloppy thirds with Phil Jackson, if we can somehow get him to coach. Did you know the Knicks have the NBA's highest payroll? I know, it's not always obvious from their play. Or ever obvious.

• Relevant to nothing today, on April 15, 1972, Reggie Jackson was the first major leaguer with facial hair since Wally Schang in 1914. See, you can learn something from watching Cheap Seats at 1:50 a.m.

Today's Sports Links:

• 'Hook 'em Horns' Sign Has Different Meanings in Other Cultures — Dubya flashed the popular University of Texas sports salute at his inauguration, and confused Norwegians understood it to be the sign of the devil. Which could present a problem the next time we really need Norway to help us out with an important issue. Like winning a game of Risk or something.

• Prof to Study Why Women Flashed Breasts at Hockey Fans — Remember that whole Calgary Flames girls craze? Well, some chick professor is gonna conduct a study. And I imagine she will have no trouble finding male students to help out with the research.

• Astros Sign John Franco to One-Year Deal — Apparently, the cure for losing the top free agent on the market is to sign a 44-year-old reliever who was 2-7 with a 5.28 ERA in 2004. But at least Houston was able to replace departed Jeff Kent's porn 'stache.

• College Hoops RPI Site — Lots of number-crunching here, where you can see each teams RPI as well as its record against teams ranked 1-50, 51-100, 101-200 and 200+. Even with its crushing loss this week, Kansas owns the top spot, thanks to having played the toughest schedule in the nation. Syracuse, with one loss and five major players left from a national championship team two years ago, is 13th, one spot ahead of Southern Illinois, and seven ahead of No. 20 Princeton, which is 8-5 and is 0-3 against teams in the top 50.

• ABC Says Terrell Owens Was Second Choice in Towel Skit — to John Madden — Wow, the thought of a hot, naked chick asking Madden to look after her needs pretty much has me reaching for the barf bag. But that image isn't half as sickening as...

• Chyna Gives Impromptu Nude Strip Show at Scores — The former wrestling star who pretty much convinced me to never again subscribe to Playboy convinced the high-rolling strip club (and sometimes crime scene) to allow her on stage. She was asked to stop after she went bottomless. I'm guessing this is where a stampede to the bathroom occurred.

• XXXIX Knee-Jerk Reactions — Some talking points after the conference championship games. Steve Politi writes, "Somewhere, Eli Manning watched the floater Ben Roethlisberger tossed for an early interception and thought, 'Jeez, I could have done that.'"