The NFC Championship game will be played on Sunday night between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints. There are great story lines in this game: Brett Favre returning to the NFL, possibly leading the Vikings to the Super Bowl and of course there’s the Saints who are a story in and of themselves. The Saints are one of only five teams in the entire NFL to have never played in a Super Bowl. Will this be their lucky year?

The NFL Playoffs are winding down. Only two games are left, the AFC and NFC Championship Games. Today we will take a look at the first game on Sunday, the AFC Championship between the New York Jets and the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts are the favorites, with good reason. They have the best quarterback in the game and are playing at home. But is that enough to stop the Jets who just beat Cincinnati and San Diego?

Super Bowl XLIV in Miami is just a few week weeks away. There are four teams left in the NFL Playoffs (Colts, Jets, Saints and Vikings), but only two of them will reach the Super Bowl. We will know the two teams after the AFC and NFC Championship Games this coming weekend. But for those of you headed to South Florida or maybe you’re just a huge football fan, Football Fanatics has a great selection of officially licensed Super Bowl XLIV apparel and merchandise for sale.

As you know, it’s traditional to commit to making a positive life change at the beginning of the year. Something we also call New Year’s resolutions.
In this month’s Huddle Up (the exclusive Fanatics Rewards Club e-Newsletter), we asked our members what their 2010 vows were, and here’s what they had to say…
Matthew – “…Recommend the College Football Store to everyone I know for officially licensed gear because that is the best place to get everything a sports fan needs…I am a die hard Boise state fan.”
Jessica – “Work harder at …

Yesterday we looked at a preview of the two AFC Playoff games this weekend. Today I’m going to preview the two NFC games. A lot can happen in the NFL Playoffs – it doesn’t matter what a team’s record is going into the game. It’s all about what team is hot right now. We’ve seen wildcard teams win the Super Bowl and we’ve seen No. 1 seeds go all the way. Last year’s Arizona Cardinals team was a wildcard team and they almost won the Super Bowl. Will it happen again this year?

We are just a few days away from the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs. Last weekend we saw the New York Jets upset the Cincinnati Bengals, the Baltimore Ravens upset the New England Patriots and the Arizona Cardinals score on a huge play in overtime to beat the Packers. You couldn’t ask for much more in a Wildcard round of the playoffs. Will this weekend’s games keep fans excited and on the edge of their seats? In today’s post we’ll take a look at the two AFC games and tomorrow I will preview the two NFC games.

After one season as the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, Lane Kiffin has bolted for Los Angeles to coach the USC Trojans. Kiffin was mildly successful at Tennessee. He was able to recruit with the best of them, but wasn’t necessarily the best gameday coach. He has ties with USC and was an assistant there for about five years under Pete Carroll. I’m sure Vols fans are furious, but can you really blame a guy for taking a better job? College coaches do it all the time – if a better opportunity presents itself, you take it … and it doesn’t get much better than Southern Cal.

Former Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire has finally admitted to steroid use during his baseball year. McGwire is currently employed by the Cardinals as a hitting coach and was just snubbed by Baseball Hall of Fame Voters for the third year in a row. I think he finally realized that if he wants to make the HOF, he needs to come clean and stop denying what we all knew was the truth.

On Friday, the rumors were flying that USC’s Pete Carroll would be accepting the Seattle Seahawks head coach position. I didn’t want to write about it on Friday because there was nothing concrete, but over the weekend we got the confirmation we were looking for. Carroll officially resigned from Southern Cal and is expected to be introduced by the Seahawks tomorrow. I read that the deal is worth something around $6.5 million per year.

Congratulations! The Alabama Crimson Tide are BCS National Champions! What an amazing game by both the Crimson Tide and the Texas Longhorns. I never would have thought Texas could keep it close without McCoy. This was a very hard game to predict beforehand, but it looks like we now have a clear winner. The Crimson Tide are the best team in the country. Alabama Crimson Tide BCS Champs apparel is on sale right now at FootballFanatics.com. Order your apparel today and get 3-day shipping for only $4.99.