At the time of writing this, day seven's matchup between Chris Berman's Mannerisms and the Many Faces of Philip Rivers is deadlocked at 184-184. When those goes up, the tie may be broken, but let me point out that no result enjoyed anything greater than a 3% lead after the first twenty-thirty minutes of the poll being open. So it's really close. If there is a tie, I will evaluate how to proceed (likely with an extended voting period, so stay tuned in regards to that).
Today, we've got two rather annoying phrases conveniently matched up to round out the first sixteen entrants in the bracket: "Player 'X' Is A Football Player" against "Player 'X' Is A Future Hall Of Famer" We'll get to the voting in a moment, but first: remember, we are voting on what we believe to be the absolute worst thing of the two. If you're voting in a worst food contest, and you like pizza more than hamburgers, you would then vote for hamburgers in that matchup. Get it? Got it? Good.
(2) Player 'X' Is A Football Player
There are some players who give more to the game of football than other players. There are players you can visibly tell are playing harder than other players. Somebody like Justin Smith is a guy with a never-ending motor who shows up for sixty minutes, regardless of the score at any given time in those sixty minutes. Somebody like Cris Collinsworth would say that Justin Smith is a "football player." Somebody like Cris Collinsworth draws my eternal ire unlike any other. I kind of know what it is that people are trying to convey when they say "this guy is a football player," but it happens to be different almost every time. Being a football player when said like this can mean you're good, you have a high motor, you can do a lot, or, considering the loose criteria, you exist. It's annoying, and there are better ways to describe it. I will ride this one all the way until the end if I can. I absolutely hate this saying. They are all football players, folks. Ugh.
(15) Player 'X' Is A Future Hall Of Famer
This one is almost understandable in some cases, but in others, it's like ... why would you say something like that? As such, I feel like it's important to not use it ... is it fair to say Peyton Manning is a future hall of famer? Probably ... but it's just something that seems odd to say. Chad Ocho Cinco is such a funny guy, likable, almost all of his antics are totally harmless, but the hall of fame jacket thing? Yeah ... bad taste in the mouth. One of the biggest problems with this saying is the fact that people say it CONSTANTLY! Is Patrick Willis a future hall of famer? He has a good chance to be, I suppose, but I won't say that kind of thing yet. It's not something that should be said to begin with, and its over-use is a travesty.
Day 1: "America's Team" def. "New York FOOTBALL Giants" - 428-40
Day 2: Rookie Holdouts def. Week 16, 17 Byes - 266-65
Day 3: Seahawks Alternates def. Buccaneers Loser Uniforms - 328-118
Day 4: New Referee Rule Limiting No Huddle def. Icing The Kicker - 180-116
Day 5: Twitter Beefs def Madden Curse - 125-108
Day 6: Prevent Defense def. Wildcat Formation - 296-65
Day 7: Chris Berman's Mannerisms def. The Many Faces of Philip Rivers - 188-185