Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 15,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Five-star upset special o’ the week: Colts over Jaguars. You might be asking yourself … self, does this really count as an upset? Barely. But, the Colts end the season with a three-game winning streak, and that would be an upset. If this happens, and the predicted outcome below comes true, too, then the Colts would not have the No. 1 overall pick atop the 2012 NFL Draft. What would those fans who bought No. 21 Andrew Luck Colts jerseys do now?

Lock of the week: 49ers over Rams. The Rams should be accompanied by circus music when they are out on the field on offense.

Sunday’s games

Jets at Dolphins
The pick: Dolphins
Bills at Patriots
The pick: Patriots
Titans at Texans
The pick: Texans
Colts at Jaguars
The pick: Colts
Redskins at Eagles
The pick: Eagles
Bears at Vikings
The pick: Vikings
Panthers at Saints
The pick: Saints
49ers at Rams
The pick: 49ers
Lions at Packers
The pick: Packers
Ravens at Bengals
The pick: Bengals
Steelers at Browns
The pick: Steelers
Chiefs at Broncos
The pick: Chiefs
Seahawks at Cardinals
The pick: Seahawks
Chargers at Raiders
The pick: Raiders
Buccaneers at Falcons
The pick: Falcons
Cowboys at Giants
The pick: Giants

Statistical breakdown

Last week’s record: 9-7
2011 overall record: 157-83 (.654 winning percentage … better than last year)
Five-star upset special record: 4-12 (what a big ol’ heaping pile of doody-poo this category has been this season)
Lock of the week record: 12-4

Five-star upset special o’ the week: Seahawks over 49ers. I also have the Eagles over the Cowboys, but thinking that the Seahawks beating the NFC West champion 49ers would be a slightly bigger upset. The Seahawks have won five of six and are a good bet to finish with a better record than they did last season, when they won the NFC West basically by default.

Lock of the week: Steelers over Rams. Who will play at QB for Pittsburgh? Ben Roethlisberger? Charlie Batch? Dennis Dixon? Who cares? The Steelers could beat the Rams if they brought back Bubby Brister for a game.

Thursday’s game

Texans at Colts
The pick: Texans

Saturday’s games

Browns at Ravens
The pick: Ravens
Broncos at Bills
The pick: Broncos
Buccaneers at Panthers
The pick: Panthers
Cardinals at Bengals
The pick: Bengals
Raiders at Chiefs
The pick: Chiefs
Dolphins at Patriots
The pick: Patriots
Giants at Jets
The pick: Jets
Rams at Steelers
The pick: Steelers
Jaguars at Titans
The pick: Titans
Vikings at Redskins
The pick: Redskins
Chargers at Lions
The pick: Chargers
Eagles at Cowboys
The pick: Eagles
49ers at Seahawks
The pick: Seahawks

Sunday’s game

Bears at Packers
The pick: Packers

Falcons at Saints

Falcons at Saints
The pick: Saints

Statistical breakdown

Last week’s record: 9-7 (the ol’ lump-of-coal-in-the-stocking moment was missing on that “Lock of the week” pick. Bah, humbug!)
2011 overall record: 148-76 (.661 winning percentage)
Five-star upset special record: 4-11
Lock of the week record: 11-4

If I turn on the radio, and the sports radio personalities are discussing the latest doings of the Lakers — or, maybe by some chance the Clippers — I give them 30 seconds to change the subject to a more satisfying sporting venture.

“SportsCenter” gets 30 seconds to get on with their NBA highlight and move on to better stuff.

It took 30 seconds to write this post about the NBA. That is all you will hear from me on the subject.

Congratulations to Wisconsin-Whitewater on a third consecutive Stagg Bowl, and fourth in five years.

Around the web:
• JSOnline: Defensve leads way to title | Photos
• Royal Purple: Not the game many expected
• Daily Union: Defensive play sets up decisive TD
• The Plain Dealer: Historic defeat for Mount Union

All anybody I run into on the streets or follow on Twitter is talking about today is the re-re-re-re-re-rematch in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl between the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater — two-time defending champions, winners of three of the last four Stagg Bowls — and Mount Union College — 10-time winners of the NCAA Division III championship.

Seriously? Seven consecutive matchups between UWW and MUC in the championship? This is an unprecedented, unheard of, and bizarre to a certain extent, run of mutual success.

And, you couldn’t avoid discussion of the big game during Stagg Bowl XXXIX hype week.

For example, take this morning, and a stop to the local grocery store, where sports fans were stocking up on snacks and drinks for tonight’s game. A worker at the store asked me, “How are you doing today? Can I help you find anything? Who do you got tonight?” Well, U Dub Dud, of course.

Conversation at the local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was dominated by the Stagg Bowl. A fellow patron was pondering if the Warhawks can stop the dynamic Jasper Collins (highlight). Another patron countered with a thought on Levell Coppage — he did score the winning TD in last year’s game — and his impact on the game.

At work, banter around the watercooler focused on the big bowl game (and only bowl in which the two competing teams went through a grueling playoff for the right to participate) that unofficially kicks off the college football bowl season (4 p.m. PT on ESPN2).

It’s great that America has really taken to this game.

Lost in the hoopla is the game’s namesake, Amos Alonzo Stagg.

Mention the game’s name to anybody and the first reaction is, “the what bowl?”

“Stagg?”

“Huh?!?”

Who was Amos Alonzo Stagg?

Arguably the most important individual in the history of American sport.

Check out the long list of Stagg’s innovations that athletes and sports fans take for granted today (not in chronological order):

Awarding varsity letters.

The huddle.

Helmets.

Names on the back of player jerseys.

The tackling dummy.

The reverse.

The lateral pass.

The man in motion.

The linebacker position.

The Statue of Liberty play.

For good measure, Stagg also created a little something called the baseball batting cage.

If that’s not enough, Stagg scored the lone basket for the losing side in the very first public game of basketball (final score, 5-1), played in front of a crowd of 200 people in Springfield, Mass. He’s like a sort of Forrest Gump of early American sport.

That set of accomplishments made Stagg a charter member of both the College Football and Basketball Hall of Fames.

Stagg made those innovations a necessary part of the modern game during more than 50 years as a college football coach, most of which at the University of Chicago (1892–1932), which was a member of the Big Ten at the time (and a seven-time conference champion and two-time national champion under Stagg’s careful watch).

If that’s not enough, Stagg’s name was also attached to the University of Chicago’s home football stadium, under which on Dec. 2, 1942 a team of Manhattan Project scientists created the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, which had a bit of a hand in altering human history.

Five-star upset special o’ the week: Broncos over Patriots. The Interwebs would explode from happiness if Tim Tebow led the Broncos to Super Bowl XLVI and played an undefeated Packers team.

Lock of the week: Packers over Chiefs. Yes, I know I picked the Pack as my “Lock of the week” last week, but this isn’t a suicide pool, I reserve the right to choose any team any amount of times I please, especially if it’s the Packers. The Packers — unless, all of a sudden and without any notice, Mike McCarthy turns all Jim Caldwell on us — are likely going to overwhelm a Chiefs team that fired its coach this week and will welcome a new, even-less-experienced-than-the-previous quarterback into the huddle (Dec. 16 update: Kyle Orton will start, not Ricky Stanzi). New coach + inexperienced QB making start / undefeated Packers = well, it doesn’t really add up, but you get the idea that it’s not good for KC.

Thursday’s game

Jaguars at Falcons
The pick: Falcons

Saturday’s game

Cowboys at Buccaneers
The pick: Cowboys

Sunday’s games

Dolphins at Bills
The pick: Dolphins
Seahawks at Bears
The pick: Seahawks
Panthers at Texans
The pick: Texans
Titans at Colts
The pick: Titans
Packers at Chiefs
The pick: Packers
Saints at Vikings
The pick: Saints
Redskins at Giants
The pick: Giants
Bengals at Rams
The pick: Bengals
Lions at Raiders
The pick: Lions
Browns at Cardinals
The pick: Cardinals
Patriots at Broncos
The pick: Broncos
Jets at Eagles
The pick: Eagles
Ravens at Chargers
The pick: Ravens

Monday’s game

Steelers at 49ers
The pick: Steelers

Statistical breakdown

Last week’s record: 11-5
2011 overall record: 139-69 (.668 winning percentage)
Five-star upset special record: 4-10
Lock of the week record: 11-3

2. The beginning — What can beat five minutes of Wookie conversation? If you manage to not shut off the “Star Wars Holiday Special” during this sequence, you deserve a medal of some kind.

3. The random Jefferson Starship video — “Light the Sky on Fire” was a tasteful choice for a Star Wars production.

4. The late Bea Arthur’s special guest appearance — Before she was one of the “Golden Girls”, Arthur poured drinks down the top of the head of a bar fly — who happens to also all-so-subtly hits on Arthur. Then (THEN!), Arthur sings.

5. The ending — Always such a relief when this acid-trip of a scene finally happens. It’s also best to not be totally sober, so it can be appreciated appropriately.

Five-star upset special o’ the week: Panthers over Falcons. While the Falcons are fighting to stay in the NFC wild-card picture, the improving Panthers are the team nobody wants to play right now. Cam Newton has broken a 35-year-old record set by Steve Grogan for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback and will continue a late push for Rookie of the Year honors.

Lock of the week: Packers over Raiders. It’s too easy to pick the Ravens over the Colts (I’ve also vowed to never pick the Ravens as a “Lock of the week” … ever!). So, that leaves us with the Packers, winners of 18 consecutive games (counting games played at the end of last season and playoffs), returning home to comfy/cold Lambeau Field against the Raiders team that got depantsed by the Dolphins. Green Bay appears set to move to 13-0, inch closer to home-field advantage in the NFC and continue to answer questions surrounding resting players at end of regular season or going for a perfect season.

Thursday’s game

Browns at Steelers
The pick: Steelers

Sunday’s games

Colts at Ravens
The pick: Ravens
Falcons at Panthers
The pick: Panthers
Texans at Bengals
The pick: Texans
Vikings at Lions
The pick: Lions
Buccaneers at Jaguars
The pick: Buccaneers
Eagles at Dolphins
The pick: Dolphins
Chiefs at Jets
The pick: Jets
Saints at Titans
The pick: Saints
Patriots at Redskins
The pick: Patriots
49ers at Cardinals
The pick: 49ers
Bears at Broncos
The pick: Broncos
Raiders at Packers
The pick: Packers
Bills at Chargers
The pick: Chargers
Giants at Cowboys
The pick: Cowboys

Monday’s game

Rams at Seahawks
The pick: Seahawks

Statistical breakdown

Last week’s record: 12-4
2011 overall record: 128-64 (.667 winning percentage)
Five-star upset special record: 4-9
Lock of the week record: 10-3