Greetings from the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState. Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken have been their usual industrious selves, working their fins and tentacles to the bone, filing post after post …

Or shoving fish cracker after fish cracker into their mouths.

Anyway, the days of football grow short. College ball’s season has concluded, with the Ohio State Buckeyes capturing the flag over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame made a game of it, but Ohio State was the better team and deserved the win. 

The victory will doubtless keep Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day employed, something widely believed to be in doubt following a regular season in which his Buckeyes committed the unpardonable crime of losing to the Michigan Wolverines for the fourth straight year. One suspects that during the off-season, Day volunteers for the local bomb defusing squad because it is less stressful than listening to the alumni yapping. On the other side of the championship coin, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has proven himself a winner who conducts his business and himself with dignity and class despite losing the title game. Maybe he could teach the WNBA’s sulking crybabies about this.

Moving on from the semi-pros to the pros, in the NFL, one not entirely unexpected conference championship lines up with one that no one saw coming. In the “you two again?” department, the Buffalo Bills plow their way to Kansas City for a matchup with the Chiefs. At season commencement, the talk was Buffalo would not be as good as they had been in years past due to trading stud wide receiver Stefon Diggs, among other key veterans departing. Actually, they had a better record this season than last and were the only team to beat the Chiefs in a game when Kansas City bothered to play its starters. Meanwhile, the Chiefs spent the regular season mastering the art of winning by the skin of their teeth. But they did win. Granted, most everyone outside of the Kansas City metropolitan area and diehard Swifties (is there any other kind?) is dearly hoping for a Buffalo win so someone other than the Chiefs will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. But, until they prove otherwise, Buffalo in the postseason is Buffalo in the postseason. So we shall see.

The NFC championship features the Philadelphia Eagles, to no one’s great surprise, hosting the … Washington Commanders. Now, that is a surprise. Despite a suspect defense, the Commanders have made their way into the conference championship by riding the iron will of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who thrives under pressure and can beat you both running and passing. Philadelphia has made its way via a strong defense and the otherworldly season enjoyed by Saquon Barkley, who, along with the Baltimore Ravens’ Derrick Henry, did for the running back position in 2024 what Justin Timberlake claimed to do for sexy a few years back. This is good, as quarterback Jalen Hurts has not made Eagles fans feel at ease with his ability to win games despite having won a bunch of them. Philadelphia is the favorite, but I would not be shocked to see Washington triumph in a shootout.