t’s been my observation that if women are fans of a professional team in St. Louis, it tends to be either the Cardinals or the Blues. I feel as though I see fewer women donning Rams gear than men wearing Twilight gear. (I am not exaggerating with this statement as I saw a man wearing a shirt making fun of Twilight this weekend versus no women in Rams clothing, positive or negative.) Perhaps this is due to the Cardinals and Blues being in St. Louis for much longer than the Rams (the Rams showed up in their primary blue and yellow uniforms in 1995). Perhaps this is due to the Rams not doing so hot in the past couple of seasons. However, the NFL’s divisional playoffs are getting quite interesting as the Patriots, Packers, Bengals and Eagles lost out this weekend, leaving the playoffs with fewer hyped teams than years past.

Next weekend should provide some interesting entertainment as the Divisional playoffs come to a close. Winners of the divisional games will play for their Conference Championship (National Football League [NFC] and American Football League [AFC]) and then the winners of the Conference Championships will take each other on in the ever popular Super Bowl on February 7. But before we jump to Monday hangovers and hopefully hilarious commercials, let’s talk about how teams are going to have to get there…

The Rams are a part of the Western conference of the NFC, so we’ll start with the teams the Rams know and love the most.

On January 16, the Arizona Cardinals (11-6), after defeating the Green Bay Packers in overtime yesterday, will take on the number 1 seed New Orleans Saints (13-3). The winner of this game will take on the winner of the January 17 game between the Dallas Cowboys (12-5) and the Minnesota Vikings (12-4). Between these two games, just ranks would claim the Cowboys/Vikings game to be the more interesting game. This is a number 3 seed (Cowboys) versus a number 2 and with nearly identical records, almost anything could happen. People tend to love or hate the Cowboys and love or hate Brett Favre, so this game will likely bring out some opinionated fans. However, if you watched the Cardinals/Packers game last night, you’ll know the Cardinals are packing a lot with a rumored soon-to-be-retired Kurt Warner. The Saints will have to work hard to slow the train the Cardinals are pushing.

As far as the AFC goes, on Saturday, January 16, the number 6 seed Baltimore Ravens (10-7) will take on the number 1 seed Indianapolis Colts (14-2). The Ravens convincingly beat the Patriots this past weekend to clinch their spot in the AFC playoffs and if Ray Lewis has anything to do with it, the Colts are next on the Ravens’ hit list. Sunday brings us the number 5 seed New York Jets (10-7) versus the number 2 San Diego Chargers (13-3). Mark Sanchez, quarterback for the Jets, has the lowest past completion percentage of the quarterbacks left in the game this year and while the Jets and Chargers may match up relatively well, the Chargers are riding an 11 game winning streak. Momentum is often the most understated advantage in sports and the Chargers have it for Sunday.

Football fans tend to have opinions, however, with fan favorites (to love or to hate) like the Patriots and the Packers gone until next season, this gives some other, lesser known teams a chance to make a name for themselves. In sports, the media generally seems to take an east coast bias. People (re: Cardinals fans) claim this is the reason Wainwright or Carpenter didn’t win the Cy Young award this year. I’m midwest biased when it comes to the NFL. Of the teams still standing, I’d like to see the Saints, the Vikings, and the Colts win. I honestly don’t have an opinion on the Jets, Chargers game, so long as the winner of that game goes on to lose to the Colts for the AFC championship. I’d like to see a Vikings/Colts Super Bowl, but there’s really no guarantees when it comes to NFL playoffs. If football isn’t your thing, I can’t blame you. After all, the NBA is in the middle of its season, March Madness won’t be away for too much longer, pucks are flying and spring training is literally right around the corner. But next weekend, football may be the only thing I’m devoting my time to.

Annie is the Sports and Fitness Editor for Girls Guide. She writes about all kinds of sports related topics and then really goes out and plays sports almost every evening. You can contact Annie by emailing her at annie [at] girlsguidetothegalaxy [dot] com, and we are still trying to talk her into getting a Twitter account – no success yet.