Who needs tickets?

Here’s the situation: The Patriots have three games remaining in the regular season on their quest for perfection; the Jets, Dolphins, and Giants. You’d have to assume that they will play their starters against the Jets, the team that provoked Belly-check to simply ravage every opponent this season. Brady and company will likely be in there against the Dolphins as well, the only team in the modern era with an undefeated record, and a team that has upset the Pat’s a few times late in the last few seasons. Not that it would matter anyway since I’m pretty sure the Patriots backups could beat Miami by 20.

“Honey, can I build our mailbox into a Dolphins helmet?.”

That leaves one final game for the Patriots, in the Meadowlands against the New York Giants during week 17. The Pat’s will have already clinched home field advantage and will only have their undefeated record to motivate them into playing their starting 22.

The issue that makes this game irrelevant is that the Giants are almost assured right now of the fifth playoff spot in the NFC, meaning their motivation to play already banged up starters will not be very high. Thus, it looks as though the Pat’s will end the regular season by playing a Giants team that is already in cruise control, planning their first round matchup against the Seahawks or Bucs. And Coughlin won’t risk injuring anyone to prevent the Pat’s from being perfect considering his already looming future as their head coach.

In other news, if the Redskins win out their last three games, they’re in the playoffs. Giants, Vikings, Cowboys. Bring it on.

In unrelated news, I have to say that the NBA’s new rule from last year that forces high school players to go to college instead of enrolling straight to the draft has revolutionized NCAA basketball. It seems as though the best players in the country the past two years have been freshman, a trend that is likely to continue for many years to come since the great players will simply leave after their first year, allowing a new crop of youngsters to headline the league the following year.

Not only that, but this rule change makes the NBA draft that much more enticing as well. Maybe some other leagues (NCAA football, NFL, MLB, NHL) will notice how a slight change in operations can be incredibly beneficial without destroying the games integrity, and will therefore stop being so shortsighted about their own issues.

In completely unrelated news, Oprah Winfrey showed her support for Obama in front of 30,000 voters this weekend. Is this the biggest no-brainer ever? How come politicians don’t use celebrity endorsements more often? If I’m running for anything (I’m thinking City Council) I’ll pay every famous individual I can get my hands on to back me up, because if the American people listen to anyone, it’s celebrities.