No, it’s not a collection of eBay links. Although that would be sweet, as well as helpful given that it’s the holiday season.

StraightCashHomey.net, whose goal is to “turn the world into an international ridiculous jersey scavenger hunt,” has for some time now been posting a daily photo of someone’s jersey that probably gets the owner either a puzzled look or a high-five whenever they’re out in public with it on.

My favorite, and far from the most inexplicable, former Pats receiver from 1993-2000, Vincent “Ultimate” Brisby.

Check out Straight Cash Homey. There’s also a good thread going on about obscure jerseys on Reddit today.

If your head did not explode from reading the title of this post, I suspect you are probably laughing or are confused as to what the hell the Beanpot is.  In the grand scheme of sporting events, yes, comparing the two is bombastic.  It’d be like comparing, ladies and gentlemen, sex with a model to that first awkward drunken make-out/groping session you had freshman year of college.

While the Super Bowl is the grandaddy of all American sporting events (so grandaddy-licious this year that it’s the most watched broadcast event in history), the Beanpot is a tournament involving Boston’s 4 big schools: Harvard, Northeastern, Boston College, and my alma mater, Boston University.  Each year, the 4 schools are paired off for a 2 week tournament for the coveted Beanpot trophy.  More importantly, these four schools play for pride and bragging rights…and yes, ads do not cost $3 million for 30 seconds.

If you watched BC’s 4-3 Beanpot victory on Monday night at a local sports bar, it made for an unbelievably satisfying sports dessert to The Big Game’s main course.  As a BU alum, it was disappointing to lose, especially to our hated rival (Thank god for $1 dollar draft Mondays at Third & Long) and I was not exactly thrilled wake up and watch ESPN’s Top 10 yesterday morning.  What was the #1 play you ask?  Chris Kreider, BC’s 18 year old freshman, deking out BU freshman Max Nicastro and finishing with a fluid backhander past BU goalie Kieran Millan to put BC up 3-1 during the Beanpot.

Now, I can drunkenly berate the other 3 BC goals (and believe me, I did) but none of us could argue this was a helluva play.  Oddly enough, I quickly changed my tune since, if you watched the game, you’d know BU’s David Warsofsky had an equally amazing top-shelf backhander later on.  Surprisingly, I was happy.  I was happy that college hockey, a sport that doesn’t get nearly enough recognition and is the pride of the BU faithful, was getting it’s due on Sportscenter.  Hopefully next year, we’ll reclaim the trophy for a tournament that’s continually ours (29 titles and running).  Until then…

What? You didn’t think I’d really end this on a sad note and praising the enemy, did you? GO B.U.

By this time next week, the first week of NFL playoff match-ups will be abundantly clear, and the media landscape will be lousy with speculation – prediction: an unnecessary amount of people picking Philly or Dallas to make a dark horse Superbowl run. As it stands right now, 10 of 12 teams are at their very least in, with two spots in the AFC no less than wide open. Of those 10 teams, seven are playing games in the last week of the season that have some sort of playoff implications. Even so, after the Colts conceded victory vs. the Jets on Sunday, one can’t help but wonder who of the teams that are in regardless plan to rest their starters in the final contest of the regular season.

As I see it, you can eliminate three teams from that debate instantaneously, and a few others fairly quickly. The top seeds in their respective conferences, New Orleans and Indy, each backed their way into resting their starters in Week 17. And San Diego didn’t have to earn it – and they did beating up on Tennessee – but with a firm hold on the #2 seed they’ll sit their first string too.

The obvious candidates to play their starters this Sunday are Philly and Dallas, who meet to decide who takes the NFC East title. It’s just as much of a no-brainer for Minnesota and Arizona to put their starters out there. Minnesota needs to win to stay eligible for a bye. If a few things fall into place (MIN loss, PHI loss), Arizona can play their way to a bye to the following week.

That leaves three teams to consider – New England, Cincinnati and Green Bay. All three of these teams are playing a game on Sunday that affects the playoff picture, just not necessarily in a huge way personally. None of these teams have a chance at a bye, and Green Bay has no chance to get higher than a fifth seed. For New England and Cincy, on the surface it’s really only a question of rest – beneath the surface it’s a question of how bad do we not want to go into Indy in the divisional round?

Here’s the brief on GB, NE and the Queen City’s match-up on Sunday, and the context of each. Hit the poll at the bottom on who you think most needs to rest their starters on Sunday:

New England

vs. Houston

Implications:

Houston needs to win to get in. And realistically, they need so much help that the round-the league scoreboard will garner as much attention as Tom Brady and Randy Moss. The third seed in the AFC is New England’s to relinquish with a loss and a Cincinnati win. However, at this point it’s hard to wish for a second-round jaunt to the left coast to face San Diego over a rematch with Indy, who’ll be dusting off considerably for that divisional game.

I say sit the A-team at half time, Bill – who, ever the contrarian, called a QB dive with Brady twice on the final drive vs. Jacksonville on Sunday, up 35-7 in the fourth.

Cincinnati

vs. Jets

Implications:

Jets win, and their in. And with the Jets playing at home and the master of their own destiny, Cincy can count on getting the Jets’ best punch in the mouth. Still, if the Bengals knock out the Jets and a few other chips fall their way (NE loss, BAL win), they could be set-up to take on Baltimore in the first round, who they swept in the division during the regular season. Sounds complicated, but really it’s really as simple as living by the out-of-town scoreboard – if at any point New England wraps up Houston and that third seed is, pull Palmer.

Green Bay

vs. Arizona

Implications:

Arizona wins, and Minnesota and Philly lose, the defending NFC champs all of a sudden earned a week off, which is great for them, but does it really do anything for Green Bay? Rodgers and crew are looking at the 5th or 6th seed regardless of what happens on Sunday. But somehow, other than New Orleans, they’ve managed to have the least to play for this week. And, it’s almost a sure thing, that no matter where they’ve got to go in the first round, they’ll face a third or fourth seed that either played their way or got themselves beaten down into that position. May not hurt to be the rested team in that scenario.

…

My smart money prediction: Green Bay conducts business as usual, and plays the starters, New England and Cincinnati pull the first string at half time.

Vote for the team you most think should rest their starters this week in the poll below.