Free Downloads

What a great day. The sun is shining for about the first time in January, Maverick’s is going off just over the hill, and the divisional round will kick off at Lambeau Field in just a few hours.

A side note - why are they charging $25 a head to watch Maverick’s on the big screen at AT&T Park when they are desperately trying to discourage people from showing up - for free, mind you - at the beach and kicking the whole cliff into the ocean?

I’m taking it all in from home wearing my Packers shirt and looking at the ridiculous “G Force: How Many False Starts Will You Be Responsible for Today?” handkerchief that they gave us at Lambeau on December 9. Was that specially prepared for Sims and Gallery?

1985 Dan would never forgive 2008 Dan for saying that I really don’t mind the Seahawks anymore. (Remember the “Raider Busters?”) As a Packer fan, Hasselbeck’s coin-flip comment didn’t bother me. The bottom line on this one is that Lambeau with a bit of snow is a great home field, and the Seahawks are dreadful on the road. I think we’ll see today that the Packers are very good and the Seahawks aren’t. Packers, 31-17.

I would not want to be setting the line for the Patriots-Jaguars game. 13 1/2 is probably reasonable. The Patriots could blow this one out. They are a really good team. They will have a chip on their shoulder, they’ll be focused, yadda yadda yadda. I don’t like the Patriots. They are a dynasty built on fraud with a phony squeaky-clean reputation. There is a lot of film out there showing how to slow them down (Philly, Baltimore, NYG), and the Jaguars are much better than those teams. Do they match up well? Maybe not, but what the hell. I’m picking Jacksonville to end New England’s run 34-30. It will take the game of their lives, but like I said, it’s a great day, so why not.

Indianapolis is indeed going to blow out the Chargers. Tomorrow I’m sure I’ll have that catchy/annoying “San Diego Superchargers” song in my head all day. But for whatever reason people have forgotten how good Indy is. San Diego has made a nice comeback with Norv, but it will come to a crushing end with Gates on the sideline. As much as I’d like to see LT (he’s an MVP, he can call himself whatever he wants) mocking some Patriot’s signature move at Gillette Stadium next week, Indy will win 35-20.

The Giants-Cowboys game will be fun to watch, but I think it will be a little sloppy. Dallas has looked awful in recent weeks and it may take some time to remember how to play. I think Romo needed that Mexico trip to reset. The Giants are another team like Seattle. Sometimes you think they are really good, but they just aren’t. So it will be a TO-led comeback that puts Dallas over the top, 24-21. Say what you will about TO, he was a stud with that broken ankle in the Super Bowl so a sprain should be worth 150 yds, 2 TDs or so.

It’s official. The Maverick’s surf contest has been given the green light.

Now 24 of the world’s best big wave surfers have approximately 24 hours to make it to the legendary break in Half Moon Bay by early Saturday morning, when the event’s opening heat is scheduled to run.

“We have a really good swell coming at us with great weather,” contest director and Maverick’s pioneer Jeff Clark said Thursday. “All the Santa Cruz guys are around, the South Africans are here, a lot of guys are still on their way, and we’re stoked.”

Clark said that, based on the current buoy readings, he is expecting to see waves of 30 feet on the face for the contest.

Click here for a slide show of the 2006 event!!!

“Not the biggest Maverick’s,” he said, “but 30-foot Mav’s is no pushover either. I think we’re going to see some really high-performance big-wave surfing out there.”

The decision to hold the contest this weekend was a delicate one because another big wave contest, the Nelscott Reef Tow-in Classic, was scheduled to run Friday, taking advantage of the same big swell. Eleven of the 24 invitees to the Maverick’s contest are also invited to compete in the Nelscott event.

Anthony Tashnick of Santa Cruz, the 2005 Mavericks champion, is one of those 11 surfers. Tashnick had already made a 17-hour drive up to Oregon when he heard that the Mavericks Contest had been given the green light. He elected to hop a Thursday night flight back home in order to be ready for Mav’s.

“It’s gonna be way better at Mav’s,” Tashnick said while waiting for his flight in the Portland airport Thursday night. “This swell is a straight west. Mav’s is going to be big and gnarly with perfect conditions.”

Contest organizers are urging big-wave surf fans to steer clear of the break off Pillar Point Harbor on contest day in an effort to reduce the impact of massive crowds on the sensitive coastal environment.

Clark said that spectators will have a better viewing experience by taking advantage of the numerous live broadcasts planned for Saturday, instead of squinting to see the action out at the break a half mile offshore.

Clark plans to have a live feed of the contest broadcasting at the Mavericks Surf Shop in Princeton. Fans can also head to AT&T Park in San Francisco, where a live feed will be shown via the jumbotron. A live webcast is also available online at www.maverickssurf.com.

Opening heats are slated for 8 a.m. with four six-man rounds of 40 minutes each. The semifinals will follow, with the finals loosely scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

This is the sixth running of the event. Santa Cruz surfers have won four of the first five titles, with the Westside’s Darryl “Flea” Virostko taking the first three, followed by Tashnick in 2005.

South African surfer Grant Baker is the defending champion, after coming out of nowhere to top the field in February 2007 in the best conditions the event has seen.

This year’s event boasts a $75,000 prize purse, with $30,000 for first place, $12,000 for second place, $7,500 for third place, $3,500 for fourth, $2,500 for fifth and $1,500 for sixth place.