What do you expect me to do, read?

First off, it's very weird to not have horse in the race when it comes to the NFL playoffs. For the first time in 5 years the Patriots were sitting at home from the start and my ride on the Panthers bandwagon on account of my brother-in-law was short-lived because Jake Delhomme remembered he was Jake Delhomme.

Now, normally I find a way to get behind one team or another. When I turn a game on I can find one reason to root for or against a team fairly easily. It can be something as simple as rooting for an upset or as stupid as rooting for whichever team doesn't feature a Manning brother. But, for the first time, I'm pretty ambivalent about all the teams remaining in the playoffs. I don't particularly like or dislike any team left and it's hard for me to watch sports when I'm not leaning one way or another. Let's examine the four teams left in the NFL playoffs:

Philadelphia Eagles: probably the easiest team for me to root against. Donovan McNabb gives me a vibe that if he was at a party he would spend the whole night comparing himself to anyone else there to make sure he's the most famous person in the room. Also, I used to work with a guy from Philadelphia and he was a douche so, even years later, it causes me to root against any team he liked. However, I think Andy Reid has become a sympathetic figure given the trouble his kids get into and also Brian Dawkins seems like he would be a blast to play alongside. Still, they already won a World Series in Philadelphia this year and adding a Super Bowl trophy may cause their fans to declare themselves best sports city when their basketball team still sucks. No dice.

Arizona Cardinals: you would think that given their history of being pathetic it would be the best story if they could rise up and shock the world. Also, Larry Fitzgerald is a beast and it's good that the rest of the NFL is beginning to see this. However, Arizona, much like D.C., Vegas or Los Angeles, doesn't really have any true fans since it's population is mostly made up of transplants from colder climates. I'm willing to bet that of the 70,ooo who will be in attendance on Sunday, about 50,000 had never been to a game before last week or are really Cowboys fans that just want to watch a team that can win a playoff game. So, they pretty much allowed the franchise to be that bad for that long with their apathy. Plus, I'm not sure that I could take an entire pre-Super Bowl week hearing about Kurt Warner and the Lord (I prefer to keep religion and politics out of my sports, thanks). Can't get behind them, either.

Pittsburgh Steelers: I used to work with a guy who was a Steelers fan and he seemed nice enough, so they've got that working in their favor. Also, despite being tied with the Cowboys and 49ers for most Super Bowl victories, the Steelers never tout themselves as "America's Team" or any of that bullshit. Plus, how can you not root for a quarterback from Miami of Ohio? Talk about under the radar. But, like I said, they've already got 5 Super Bowl victories and won as recently as 2006. Besides, not a single Irish player on the roster. Moving on...

Baltimore Ravens: thought about this and I can really only take so much of Ray Lewis. Yes, I get it, he's intense. However, he's approaching Hulk Hogan in the late 90's - the routine is getting a little stale. Also, they too recently won the Super Bowl. When it's not my team, I'm all for spreading the wealth. They do feature Tom Zbikowski, but that's not enough to hop on their bandwagon for the last two games of the NFL season.

So, now you can see my problem. For the first time that I can remember I don't have a team to root for (the Patriots), a team to get behind by proxy (the Panthers) or even a team to root against (the Colts) this late in the NFL playoffs. It's almost enough to make a guy not want to watch football this weekend. Then I looked at the weather and saw that it was supposed to be about 30 degrees and snowing this Sunday and I guess I can force myself to see how the games play out.