Is this the year the Miami champagne corks stay unpopped? If Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers have anything to say about it, the answer is yes.
You see, every year for the past 38 years, surviving members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins - the last National Football League team to go undefeated en route to the Super Bowl title - have a champagne celebration as soon as the last undefeated team in the NFL finally loses.
This could be the year the champagne stays in the bottle. Rodgers and the Packers won their first 13, and two of their final three games were at home. The only road game was at woeful Kansas City.
Will playoff pressure get to Green Bay and spoil the perfect season? Hardly. The Packers are the defending Super Bowl champs, so they had their playoff butterflies flying in formation last year. This year should be even easier.
Rodgers, who patiently waited on the bench for three years for Brett Favre to finally retire, is having an all-world season. His passer rating is 125.3 (Peyton Manning, in 2004, holds the record at 121.1), he is completing about 70 per cent of his passes and through 13 weeks had thrown 39 touchdowns and only six interceptions - a championship calibre ratio.
"You see a quarterback that can make every throw on the field," Oakland cornerback Stanford Routt said. "He has great receivers, great schemes, great defence - he's got basically everything you need to be successful."
The Packers are scoring a league-high 36 points per game, with Rodgers piling up an average in excess of 300 passing yards a game. He is far and away the NFL's most valuable player, but those stats might wane down the stretch as coach Mike McCarthy considers resting some starters in preparation for the playoff battle. (Indianapolis Colts did that a couple of years ago, almost going out of their way to lose a game to ease the pressure of a perfect season before losing their mojo in the playoffs and falling short of a Super Bowl win. Coach McCarthy might be advised to keep the pedal to the metal all the way.
Meanwhile, in Miami, the champagne is on ice. And likely to stay unpopped. Can't see anyone beating the Pack (*) this year.
(*) If Aaron Rodgers goes down with a season-ending injury, all bets are off.
Brad Dickson of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, after Arnold Palmer hit his 20th career hole-in-one at age 82: "Afterward in the clubhouse he bought everyone a round of Metamucil."
Comedy writer Jim Barach: "Former athletes are suing the NCAA for concussions they suffered while playing college sports. Of course, it's hard to tell if their brain damage comes from concussions or frat house beer bongs."
Greg Cote, Miami Herald: "Urban Meyer resigns as Gators football coach because of health concerns (he says) and to spend more time with his family (he says). One year later he is the new Ohio State coach. Voila! Guess OSU offered some magic Buckeye Juice to make him all better. Also guess he spent so much consolidated quality time with his family that he grew tired of them and needed a break."
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: "Kristin Cavallari got engaged a second time to Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler just five months after they broke up. Call me a cynic, but I think two rings don't make a right."
Currie again: "Hulk Hogan's ex got 70 per cent in the divorce settlement. Years in a wrestling ring, and his worst beating comes from a wedding ring."
Ray Ratto, CBSSports.com: "Congratulations to Arte Moreno and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. They spent $250 million to enrich Albert Pujols, fix first base and kick the Dodgers in the groin while they are lying face-down in a puddle."
Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, on the Pujols signing: "Moreno's (previous) biggest splash in his eight seasons as owner was the announcement that he was lowering beer prices."
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald: "It is announced that Dolphins Stadium on Feb. 29 will host a Colombia vs. Mexico international soccer match. I suppose that would be the match voted most likely to be interrupted by warring drug cartels."
Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: "Basketball great Larry Bird turned 55 on Wednesday. How quickly time passes: NCAA ... NBA ... AARP ..."
Dickson again, with a spoiler alert for "Baseball Wives" on VH-1: "In the premiere episode, a group of wives beat the Houston Astros 6-4."
Perry again: "Among the 25 charged in Vancouver's post-Stanley Cup rioting: Sophie LaBoissonniere, voted Miss Congeniality at this year's Miss Coastal Vancouver pageant. Or as the award is now affectionately known, the Tiger Williams Trophy."
Blogger Derek Wilken, on Tim Tebow's only loss as an NFL starter coming against Detroit: "Christians have never fared well against the Lions."
CBS's Craig Ferguson, on the hunting dog in Utah that shot his master: "Police think it's because the man was wearing a Michael Vick jersey."
TNT's Conan O'Brien, on the same subject: "The dog later apologized and said, 'Sorry, but you did neuter me.'"
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