Miami
Tennessee
Pittsburgh
Kansas City

Howie- final four. Go.

Chris- I like Jeff Fisher, and I tend to like teams if I like their coach. (Thus my renunciation of the Broncos.) As for the Chiefs… I can dig the stadium and the weather… but more importantly, I have two words: Derrick Thomas. Nuff said.

MO- nice job. You can’t push, so I’m giving you a vote for the Texans simply because of your animosity toward the Steelers. Also, Houston was legally required to buck tradition and choose a new name. Bud Adams, owner of the Titans, retired the name after the move, rather than allow another Houston franchise to keep the name. I still hold a grudge over that. The Texans did, however, find some tradition by going with the Texans, since the Kansas City Chiefs used to be the Dallas Texans.

Miami on the other hand has a much richer history, good fan base, and good future. How can you go wrong with the tradition of Marino and Schula and the future in the hands of Parcells?

Advantage: MIami Dolphins

The wong choice either way bracket:

The steelers have all the tradition, and a great team now. They play the game the right way: Defense and running first. However, their fan base is rabid. They are like the Duke basketball fans or New York Yankee fans: Their team is good, they know it, and feel their team is God’s gift to football. I’d hate to see you join that group.

The Texans stink, they always have. Plain and simple. They also turned their back on the Houston tradition by changing the name.

Advantage: push

The lovable looser bracket:
Both K.C. and Cleveland have decent traditions, but neither team is great right now. Mismanagement in Cleveland makes KC a better bet to win sooner. Personally, I like the city of Cleveland a little better than KC, and the Browns have slightly better history.

Advantage Cleveland Browns

Would-be Steelers bracket:
Both these teams since moving to their respected cities have adopted the Steelers philosophy of football, and I love that kind of football. I like the Titans a lot, and would not be offended at all if you chose them. However, as a Baltimore native, let me make my pitch for the Ravens.

Tradition: In a short period of time the Ravens have build a strong winning tradition. When you add that to the winning tradition of past Baltimore teams you’ve got a history as rich as almost any in the league. For those saying Baltimore doesn’t have the tradition think about this: Indianapolis may technically own the history of the Baltimore colts, but when you listen to a game on the radio, or go to games in person the old colts Art Donavan, Ray Berry, and formerly John Mackey don’t go to Indianapolis games, they go to Baltimore games. Also, last season to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1958 championship “The Greatest Game Ever Played” the NFL only allowed one franchise to hold an on-fleld halftime celebration, and I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t indianapolis. Same went for an on-field memorial tribute following the death of Unitas

Present: Ray Lewis may be getting up there in age, but the defense is still great. Plus, this past season the team went to the AFC championship game with a rookie head coach and QB. The future looks bright.

Fans: This city has some of the best fans in football. Period. Think about this: the old Baltimore Colts marching band continued to play every sesason after the Colts left, and now continue on as the Marching Ravens. How many fans would continue to carry on year after year without a team?

Advantage: Baltimore Ravens

So that’s my picks. You can probably guess from this who my final two and champion teams would be. Have fun making your picks!

Jags over Dolphins–for me it is a personal thing because I had a friend who played for the jags when they first came into the league. Plus I like defense and they play really good defense.

Titans over Ravens–this is a personal bias because I live near Baltimore and don’t really like the team. I like the Titans because of their coach. Jeff Fischer is man of character and one of the best coaches in the league.

Steelers over Texans–As a Cowboys fan who watched the loses to the Steelers in the 70′s that is hard for me to say. The fact that my wife is a Steelers fan maybe a reason. I respect their tradition and the way they run their organization.

Can’t vote on the last two teams because they have been an embarrassment to football. But if you have to make me choose I would go with the Chiefs because of their owner who died this last year, Lamar Hunt. He owned the original Pro football team in Dallas that moved to KC

There is my illogical reasons for the teams I chose.

Wes- the Phillips family is not what I’d consider an asset to the tradition of any team. But that’s just me. =) Ah, but until Sean Payton, there’s never been a Saints coach I liked. Sure, Jim Mora was entertaining, though. Oh he of the diddly poo.

Miami, Tennessee, Pittsburg, and Kansas City will definitely work. And yes, you know who I’m going with on Tuesday…

This has been a fun diversion. One I’ve spent too much time thinking about… but fun nonetheless. After the week I’ve had, it’s been good to think about something like this for a while. Too many 13-14 hour days of stress-filled work!