Gentile will be heading to Ohio University in Athens to run cross country. VonderBrink and White will take their field hockey experience to the next level, too. VonderBrink will play for  The Ohio State University in Columbus, and White will compete for Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

Some folks may be ready for football season to end, but die-hard fans like me are a bit sad. I have an idea that would make the NFL season longer, and that would be to have the Super Bowl be a best of 7 series like all of the other championships. And with the best of 7 series, the Pro Bowl would be worth something to win. The Pro Bowl-winning conference would earn “home field” advantage for its Super Bowl contender. OK, it’ll never happen, but hey … a guy can dream, can’t he?

AFC wins Pro Bowl, 59-41

I thought the NFC was going to walk away with the game by going up 14 points in a span of 9 seconds (both touchdowns thrown to Larry Fitzgerald). But the AFC came roaring back, scoring 28 unanswered points to tie the game at the break, 28 all. And when the third quarter hit, the AFC just couldn’t be stopped. The AFC scored 10 points in the third quarter compared to the NFC’s 7 to take a 38-35 lead heading into the final period.

The fourth quarter was a blowout. The AFC tacked on three more touchdowns, including one that was intercepted by Kansas City Chiefs inside-linebacker Derrick Johnson and returned for 60 yards. With the AFC’s win, they tied the record with the NFC for 21 wins in the Pro Bowl (both teams are 21-21).

Cincinnati Bengals rookie quarterback Andy Dalton and rookie wide receiver AJ Green both played well in the game, with Dalton going 7 of 9 for 99 total passing yards and two touchdowns (both to game MVP Brandon Marshall, who caught six balls for 174 yards and a total of four touchdowns in the game). Dalton also had the best quarterback rating of all six quarterbacks who played in the game with a 152.1. AJ Green caught two balls for 42 yards, one being a wide-open 34-yard touchdown.

A Super Bowl Trivia Quiz

Here is some Super Bowl trivia that I dug up, and believe me, I dug it up. Some of the questions may come easy and some may be really brain-teasing, but give it a try. The answers appear at the end of the column.

1.  Who is going to win the 46^th Super Bowl?  

     A) New England Patriots; B) New York Giants

2.  Which player has won the most Super Bowls?

     A) Peyton Manning; B) Chuck Haley; C) Tom Brady; D) Jerry Rice

3.  Which of the following teams has never been to the Super Bowl?

     A) Tennessee Titans; B) Carolina Panthers; C) Cleveland Browns; D) San Diego Chargers

4. Which team has appeared in the most Super Bowls?

     A) Dallas Cowboys; B) Pittsburgh Steelers; C) San Francisco 49ers; D) New England Patriots

5. Which legendary coach has coached in the most Super Bowls?

     A) Tom Landry; B) Chuck Noll; C) Joe Gibbs; D) Don Shula

6. Which coach has won the most Super Bowls?

     A) Don Shula; B) Chuck Noll; C) Bill Belichick; D) Tom Landry

7. True or False: A player from the losing team was named Super Bowl MVP.

8. What venue has hosted the most Super Bowls?

     A) the Miami area; B) New Orleans; C) Tampa; D) Dallas

9.  Which team has won the most Super Bowls?

     A) Pittsburgh Steelers; B) New England Patriots; C) Dallas Cowboys; D) Miami Dolphins

10. Which team has the most Super Bowl MVP Award winners?

     A) Pittsburgh Steelers; B) Dallas Cowboys; C) New England Patriots; D) San Francisco 49ers

11. Which position been awarded the most Super Bowl MVPs?

     A) running back; B) wide receiver; C) quarterback; D) linebacker

Anticipation for the Super Bowl

Super Bowl XLVI will take place this Sunday just a couple of hours west of Dayton at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Kelly Clarkson will begin the singing with the National Anthem, and Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert will perform American the Beautiful. Most fans hope Clarkson actually knows the words to the National Anthem, unlike Christina Aguilera, who missed a couple of lines and then still tried to finish the song last year. At least this year they have a good singer.

The Super Bowl halftime show will feature Madonna, Cirque du Soleil, Nicki Minaj, M.I.A., LMFAO and Cee Lo Green. Last year’s Super Bowl halftime show, which featured The Black Eyed Peas, Usher and Slash, was probably one of the worst Super Bowl shows in recent years. It was so bad, it even made the halftime shows by The Who, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers look good by comparison.

But besides the entertainment, the game will feature its fair share of exciting performances, too. But like any other Super Bowl, it’s likely to be a close game until about the fourth quarter. That’s when the New York Giants will start to turn on the gas, but it will be too little too late. That’s why the Patriots need to build up a big enough lead so when the fourth quarter hits and Eli Manning comes to life, they won’t have to worry that much.

My Super Bowl pick

New York Giants 28 @ New England Patriots 38

Trivia Answers

Here are the answers to the Super Bowl Trivia from above.

1)  OK, we don’t know the answer to this one yet. But you know who I think will win.

2)  B. Chuck Haley has won five Super Bowls, two with the Dallas Cowboys and three with the San Francisco 49ers. 

3)  C. Cleveland Browns

4)  A and B. The Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers have both appeared in eight Super Bowls.

5)  D. Don Shula has coached in six Super Bowls, but he went 2-4.

6)  B. Chuck Noll went 4-0 in his Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

7)  True. Chuck Haley won the MVP when his Dallas Cowboys lost to the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V.

8)  A. The Miami area has hosted 13 Super Bowls. Next comes New Orleans, which will host its 13th Super Bowl in 2013.

9)  A. The Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Super Bowls; they are 6-2 all time in the Big Game.

10)  B. Someone from the Dallas Cowboys has won Super Bowl MVP seven times.

11) C. The quarterback position has won the award 24 times.

Junior Chelsea Welch tallied 15 points and 7 rebounds, and freshman Shea Morgan added 11 points in the win.

Fairmont hosts the GWOC Championships on Friday, Feb. 3 and Saturday, Feb. 4 at Trent Arena. The competition on Friday starts at 5:30 p.m. and starts on Saturday at 10 a.m.

The Pro Bowl is a different game to watch, because it features the best of the AFC’s defense against the best of the NFC’s offense and vise versa. But one thing I don’t like about the Pro Bowl rules is that the defenses aren’t allowed to blitz the quarterback. This is dumb because fans want to see the best defense and the special rule doesn’t let the defense play to their full potential. 

Another silly feature of the Pro Bowl game is that the winning team earns the so-called “home-field advantage” for their conference representative in the Super Bowl. C’mon, what good does having home-field advantage at a neutral site have? Wow, you get to decide which jersey you want to wear – big whoop. 

And my last big gripe about the Pro Bowl? Why schedule it for the week before the Super Bowl, which means players in the big game can’t participate in the Pro Bowl?  That makes no sense, and it’s been that way since the NFL brought the Pro Bowl back to Miami for one year a few years back.

Meanwhile, the rosters for the Pro Bowl include a lot of rookies who are going to be in Hawaii for their first time. These guys are sure to enjoy the prestige of getting paid to play in the game, plus they get a bigger bonus if their team wins. Throw in a trip to Hawaii and it’s a pretty good deal.

Conference Championship Recap

AFC: Patriots 23, Ravens 20

Well, the game didn’t go that well (for me). I didn’t want to see the New England Patriots and Tom Brady to go back to the Super Bowl again because I don’t like Brady. (I respect him as a player, but I still don’t like him. He is just too good.) I still wish that my Super Bowl prediction had come true (the Ravens and the 49ers), but maybe next year.

But back to the game. It was a very good game throughout, partly because it was still a very close game at halftime with the Patriots leading the Baltimore Ravens 13-10. Then the Ravens started making their comeback, scoring a touchdown and a field goal compared to the Patriots lone field goal to take a 20-16 lead into the 4^th quarter.

But then the game got exciting. The Patriots scored the game-winning touchdown 3 minutes and 31 seconds into the 4^th quarter with a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Brady, but it wasn’t time to count the Ravens out just yet. They took the ensuing kickoff and got a good return (35 yards), but the Ravens were halted at mid-field because the Patriots intercepted the ball on the 50-yard line. But then Brady got too greedy and took a long shot to the end zone, and the Ravens answered the Patriots’ interception with one of their own.

The Ravens got down to about the 35-40 yard-line and got shut down on three straight runs. They went for it on 4^th and 6 and Joe Flacco got hurried out of the pocket and threw the ball away. So the Patriots took over, but with the Ravens defense playing as good as they had all game, the Patriots went three and out.

The Ravens got the ball with 1:50 left on the clock. They did drive down the field, but they also got greedy and tried to win the game instead of trying to kick the game-tying field goal. They decided to throw three balls to the end-zone, and one of the balls was caught, but the receiver had the ball smacked out of his hands as he tried to come down in-bounds.

So then it was fourth down, and the ball was placed in the middle of the field, but Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missed wide left. Cundiff looked like he was anticipating being iced byNew England. Well, the Ravens didn’t call the timeout and they missed their golden opportunity to get a shot at going to the Super Bowl. Of course, if they had made the field goal, they still would have had to win in overtime, but … we’ll never know if they could have pulled it off.

NFC:  Giants 20, 49ers 17 (OT)

The NFC Championship was a good game, but with the wrong outcome as the New York Giants beat the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in overtime. Both teams had trouble converting 3^rd downs; the Giants went 7-21 (.333) and the San Francisco 49ers went 1-13 (.076). In addition, the teams combined for 15 penalties for 110 yards.

The San Francisco 49ers had the longest play from scrimmage with a 73-yard touchdown catch and run from a pass from Alex Smith to Vernon Davis, and Davis had another touchdown from 28 yards out. But the two touchdowns weren’t enough to overcome the Giants offense and defense as the Giants, in overtime, got a fumble off of a punt and recovered from the 49ers, which led to the game-winning field goal.

The Pro Bowl

 Here’s my prediction for the Pro Bowl, which airs on NBC at 6 p.m. Sunday.

AFC 45 @ NFC 55 in Honolulu, Hawaii

Winning for Fairmont were freshman Caleb Jarrell, sophomores Cody Ball and Josh Parrett, juniors Matt Denlinger, Robert Nsenga and Mark Tulloch, and seniors Ryan Huffman, Justin Kihn and Tommy Kimbrell.

The Firebirds also finished 5^th at the Mason Tournament over the weekend. Parrett (120) and Kimbrell (170) were tournament champions for the Firebirds. Kimbrell was also named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.

Kihn (126) and Denlinger (132) were finalists and finished 2^nd. Also placing were sophomores Colin Del Valle (6^th-106) and Brandon Boykin (4^th-152), Huffman (4^th-138), junior Drew Plumlee (4^th-182), Nsenga (5^th-195) and Tulloch (6^th-285).

The Colts didn’t make it to the playoffs again this year because they didn’t have all-pro quarterback Peyton Manning to guide them to the promised land (the playoffs). The Colts also have a huge decision to make in the upcoming weeks: whether they should keep Peyton Manning or draft Stanford Cardinal’s quarterback Andrew Luck.

East Unit science teacher and football fan Rick Kappel thinks it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Luck to sit and learn from Manning. “I’m all for college kids who come into the NFL and have to sit a couple of years on the bench. I mean, there are some quarterbacks who were good in college and then they sit a couple of years and they get better,” he said.

“Look at Aaron Rodgers,” Kappel continued. “He’s the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback now, but he was a backup to Brett Favre.”

Kappel acknowledges that some rookie quarterbacks have led their teams and been very successful. He mentioned Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers, Andy Dalton of the Cincinnati Bengals, and Blaine Gabbert of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Although Kappel thinks Luck should study under Manning, he sees a problem. “If the Colts do draft Luck and then also keep Manning, they’ll have too much money on that one position,” he said.

Three blowouts and a nail-biter – again

Last weekend’s games weren’t that good. Once again, there were three blowouts and a game that literally came down to the final seconds. The scores were:

• The San Francisco 49ers beating the New Orleans Saints in the final 9 seconds of the game, 36-32
• The New England Patriots trampling the Denver Broncos, 45-10
• The Baltimore Ravens out lasting the Houston Texans, 20-13
• The New York Giants stunning the No. 1-seeded the Green Bay Packers, 37-20

The Denver Broncos came into the game against the New England Patriots on cloud 9. Well, they must not have gotten off of the cloud because the team that defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers the week before must have stayed at Mile High. The Broncos dug themselves a big, deep hole, including 14 plays that went for negative yards. The Broncos only got into the red-zone three times in the entire game; their possessions were a turnover, a touchdown and a field goal.  

Hirings and firings

There was a big hiring in the NFL this last week. The St. Louis Rams agreed to terms with former Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans Head Coach Jeff Fisher. Fisher had a final decision to go either to the St. Louis Rams or the Miami Dolphins, but a disagreement between the Dolphins’ front office and Fisher caused them to not start a bond. Fisher went 142-120 (.543) in his stint with the Titans/Oilers; he also led his team to 12+ wins in a season four times. Fisher has coached more games for one franchise than all but six coaches, all of whom are Hall of Famers.

Also, the Colts axed Head Coach Jim Caldwell after three seasons. Caldwell went 26-22 in his three-year stint. He made the playoffs two of his three years and appeared in the Super Bowl (but lost to the New Orleans Saints). But the 2-14 record this season was the icing on the cake to put Caldwell out on the street. This firing was just one of three that the Colts have already made this off-season. The Colts fired both Vice Chairman Bill Polian and his son, General Manager Chris Polian.

The conference championships

It’s down to just one game to decide the winners of the AFC and NFC. The New England Patriots are 6-2 in the AFC Championship, while the Baltimore Ravens are 1-1. (.500) In the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers are 5-7 in the championship game and 5-0 in the Super Bowl, and the New York Giants are 4-0-1 in the NFC Championship.

If the Patriots win the championship, they’ll advance to their 7^th Super Bowl; they’re 3-3 so far. If the Ravens advance, they’ll be in their 2^nd Super Bowl; they won in their first appearance. If the San Francisco 49ers win, they’ll go to their 6^th Super Bowl; they’ve won every Super Bowl they’ve been in. If the New York Giants advance, they’ll be in their 5^th Super Bowl; their Super Bowl record is 3-1.

Breakdown of the matchups

Both games are on Sunday this weekend; the AFC Championship at 3:30, followed up by the NFC Championship at 6:30.

The AFC Game: The AFC game will be a game for the century, as the Baltimore Ravens take their excellent defense into Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots and their stellar offense. The Patriots are undefeated, 6-0, in the all-time regular-season history between the two teams. But since 2007, their three non-playoff meetings have been won by the New England Patriots by an average of just three points. Even the Ravens-Patriots pre-season game in 2008 was decided by one point, 16-15.

The NFC Game: The NFC game will feature the New York “football” Giants and their balanced team battling the season-shocking San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers are virtually the same team as last year, but with a new head coach. Jim Harbaugh will be making his first trip to the NFC Championship game. (Well, seeing it is his first head coaching job in the NFL, it better be his first.) And as for Tom Coughlin, he has been in three Conference Championship games (2 in the AFC, 0-2, and then 1 in the NFC, 1-0).

My winning picks

Well, once again I went 2-2 in the playoffs, but I’m going to go 2-0 this weekend. My winning picks are in teal.

Baltimore Ravens 35 @New England Patriots 23

New York Giants 17 @ San Francisco 49ers 20 (in OT)

Yes, that’s right – I’m predicting the Super Bowl will be a battle of the Harbaugh brothers. It is going to be a Har-bowl. 

Defensive Player of the Year: Patrick Willis, linebacker form the San Francisco 49ers

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers quarterback (for breaking so many rookie records this year)

Comeback Player of the Year: Reggie Bush, Miami Dolphins running back (for coming back from a disappointing season last year to a career-best season this year)

Offensive Player of the Year: a tie New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (for being very good at home and on the road this year)

Coach of the Year: Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco 49ers head coach (for improving the 49ers so much in one season)

MVP: Drew Brees (because he broke Dan Marino’s passing yards in a season record)

Kimbrell is a tri-captain this year for the Fairmont Firebird Varsity Wrestling team and has more than 100 career wins. He is also close to the all-time win record at Fairmont, among several other achievements. Kimbrell is currently 26-0 with titles at the Firebird Classic, Cincinnati Coaches Classic and the Brecksville Holiday Tournament.

“Obviously, we are all extremely proud of Tommy. To be honest, though, it’s not a surprise. Stanford is getting a young man that is extremely intelligent and hard-working both on and off the mat. I believe Tommy will do really well at Stanford. He will receive a world-class education and compete for a great athletic program,” said Wrestling Head Coach Frank Baxter.

Kimbrell is a probable 174-pounder for the Cardinal and will major in Mechanical Engineering.

The JV team also defeated Beavercreek, 43-21. Winning for Fairmont were freshmen Tyler Hardy,  Brad Carroll and Shane Chatterton, sophomores Clay Dorman, Zach Meaden and Patrick Winans, juniors Scott Hartmann and Robert Nsenga and senior Jordan Schlemmer.