Bus Rumors

The Rocky Mount Gryphons' first appearance in the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational Basketball Tournament in 31 years has ended with a 64-55 defeat at the hands of Middle Creek. Their efforts in this tournament will give them a sixth-place finish.

I have sources riding back on one of the Wolfpack buses coming back from the Papa John's Bowl game that tells me the buzz this morning was a report that Russell Wilson tore a tendon in his knee which will require surgery and he will not play baseball this spring.

The Carolina Panthers are the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs and yet their first game, which will not be played until January 10, is the prime time Saturday night telecast. Funny that the networks would not feature the Giants, the No. 1 seed or Tennessee, the AFC's No. 1 seed.

The prime time Saturday night game this week is the Chargers-Colts match up. I totally agree with this on on Saturday night. Right now, the hottest teams in the NFL will be featured.

If you have any thoughts of getting a Panther playoff ticket 7,000 go on sale Thursday morning with the other 65,000 going to season ticket holders.

The four NFL playoff games this week are tough to call.

Atlanta, which is the NFC's Cinderella, travels to Arizona. Arizona has taken the last couple of weeks off resting starters and I never like teams that do that. I don't know why, but I think Atlanta will win one playoff game.

The other Cinderella, Miami, is hosting Baltimore. I just don't know if Miami can score enough on the Ravens' defense to win.

The Philadelphia/Minnesota game is a roll of the dice. Since the game is inside, I'll take Philly. After the hurting that the Eagles laid on Dallas, I just don't see them bowing out easily.

Just maybe the best rivalry in football right now is the Colts-Chargers when it comes to playoff time. Just maybe the top two in the MVP voting may be going against each other in Peyton Manning ,who will win the award and Philip Rivers, who has been the best quarterback all year.

This game is a tough one to call because you never know which Charger team will show up. It's probably against my better judgement, but I'm taking the Chargers.

Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons has been named Offensive Rookie of the Year in the NFL. ECU's Chris Johnson finishes a distant second in the voting.

I am in a bowl guessing game on WRAL.com. I am 7-7 so far and I am in the upper 30 percentile in accuracy. I still have a shot to win despite how poorly as I have started out.

In most years I hit about 60 percent on NFL games just picking winners, about 80 percent picking college games and about 90 percent picking high school games.

There are still 20 bowls games to be played and I still have a shot at 80 percent, but I need to get about everyone left right.