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Never have two wild-card Cheap ghd teams met in a conference championship. The NFC seems ripe for that possibility this month. Unlike in the AFC, where the New England Patriots loom, much as they did in their undefeated 2007 season, as that opponent to be feared, the NFC is wide open. So much so that both road teams this weekend, the Saints and Packers, own victories against their hosts. Wins for New Orleans at Seattle and Green Bay at Philadelphia hardly are farfetched. Indeed, outside of the Seahawks (7-9)—the first division winner with a losing record—pulling off a monumental upset, the NFC is a five-team grab bag. “Once you get into the postseason, no one’s really interested in how you got there,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “That’s been the history of our league.” The history of the league since 2000 has been that wild-card teams have a decent chance of getting to the Super Bowl, and top seeds are anything but a lock. Last year, when the Saints beat the Colts for the championship, it was the first time the No. 1 seeds in each conference made the big game since 1993. In the last decade, wild-card teams got to sheepkin boots the Super Bowl three times; they all won it: Baltimore in the 2001 game, Pittsburgh in 2006 and the Giants in 2008. Could we have a fifth seed against a sixth seed in a title game this year? If so, look to the NFC. New Orleans, after all, is the defending champion and should have an easy time with Seattle, which it beat 34-19 in November. Green Bay, plagued by key injuries more than any other contender, defeated the Eagles at Philly in the season opener and has that dangerous look about it reminiscent of the Steelers who won three road games before beating Seattle in the ’06 Super Bowl. “We did not execute at the level we’re capable of, but we’re 10-6, we’re in the playoffs, we’re a damn good offense, and we need to get ready for Philadelphia,” coach Mike McCarthy said, noting the balance his team can have. “We’ve lost some games here, but we’ve been in every single contest. “I’ve always referred to (the defense) as the thermostat. They control the temperature, they control what’s going on Nike shox NZ every time we compete. It gives us an opportunity to play offense the way we do.” True, the Saints and Packers would need to be road stars to get to the Super Bowl—although New Orleans would get the home-field edge in any meeting with Green Bay, which only could come in the championship. Even truer, it’s senseless to dismiss the teams above them—other than the Seahawks. Atlanta has the conference’s best record, 13-3, and quietly has been the NFC’s top team. It might be a bit inexperienced in key contests, but Atlanta has a rapidly developing quarterback in Matt Ryan(notes), an all-time great tight end in Tony Gonzalez(notes), and a stud running back in Michael Turner(notes). The defense has several playmakers, led by end John Abraham(notes). But the Saints went into the Georgia Dome two weeks ago and, despite their best efforts to give away the game, beat the Falcons. Atlanta’s worst game of the season was at Philadelphia, and the Packers also bumbled enough to lose at the Falcons’ dome. As good as they have been, do the Falcons make Red Monkey jeans the opposition tremble? Not quite. “We better be confident about it,” Gonzalez said of the challenge ahead, “but we know it’s going to take a lot of hard work and we’re going to have to face some good teams that are going to try and get at us. I think if we can play like we’re capable of playing, we can beat any team.” And any team can beat them, including second-seeded Chicago, another club that hasn’t gotten the attention its turnaround season deserves. Lovie Smith has done a masterful coaching job, with the defense, sparked by the return to health of Brian Urlacher(notes), capable of shutting down just about anybody. The offense, particularly with running back Matt Forte(notes) breaking out in the second half of the schedule, can be efficient. Special teams, led by returner Devin Hester(notes), are, well, special. Chicago also is error-prone, especially when Jay Cutler(notes) is pressured. Nearly every potential NFC opponent is capable of doing so to the quarterback. So the folks in Nawlins who got to celebrate that home victory over the Vikings in overtime a year ago for the NFC championship shouldn’t write off hosting another early Timberland shoes high Mardi Gras against the Packers.

SOFIA (AFP) - Some of MBT shoes Bulgaria's most popular football clubs have ties with mafia bosses, who use them to launder money, according to a US diplomatic document revealed by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. "Bulgarian soccer clubs are widely believed to be directly or indirectly controlled by organised crime figures who use their teams as a way to legitimise themselves, launder money, or make a fast buck," a January 2010 cable from the US embassy in Sofia to Washington noted. Details of the cable, which handed Bulgarian football "a red card for corruption", were published Monday on the website of the Spanish daily El Pais. "Nearly all of the teams are owned or have been connected to organised crime figures," the cable's author, current US deputy chief of mission to Sofia Susan Sutton, wrote. A "sampling of the most well-known connections" compiled by Sutton included some of Bulgaria's most popular first league clubs, such as Levski Sofia, CSKA Sofia, Litex Lovech, Slavia Sofia, Cherno more Varna, Lokomotiv Sofia and Lokomotiv Plovdiv. An alleged arms dealer, a proxy to a notorious Russian businessman and three assassinated crime bosses were among the team owners listed in the cable. As a result, "allegations of illegal gambling, match fixing, money laundering, and tax evasion plague the league", the cable found. Sutton cited the example of one club owner who allegedly bet against his own team to pay back debts, as well as recent tax administration findings that most sheepkin boots players received, at least on paper, the Bulgarian minimum wage of 240 leva (120 euros, 170 dollars) per month—although in some cases their actual pay was at least 70 times higher. The document concluded that a successful operation to sever the mafia's links to football would be "a public relations coup" for Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, whom it described as a "soccer fanatic".