Submitted by L-Boogie on January 22, 2010 - 12:09pm.

What's good people??? Welcome to the inaugural edition of my weekly sports column,"Endzone to the Paint", exclusively here on www.fab5ent.com. If you follow me on Twitter (and you should, @LBoogieFab5), as well as the rest of the Fab 5 family, you know that we LOVE our sports. On my page particularly, there's a lot of Sports talk, especially when the Lakers are playing and throughout every Football Sunday. I've decided to channel my energy into a weekly sports blog here on the site, covering a wide range of topics and sports, but of course focused more on football and basketball, college and pro. For this first column, I'm going to keep it basic with the NFL Playoffs and recent activity from the NBA. Format may change as I get the hang of things, but enjoy the ride and I appreciate the support and expect comments!

Its Conference Championship week in the NFL and there's only four teams left standing at this point in the season vying for a playoff spot. The playoffs so far have been an overall dud, although the New York Jets have silenced a lot of doubters by making it this far with a rookie coach and QB. The Colts, Vikings, and Saints have all gotten to this point with superb QB play and potent offenses, while the Jets rely on a steady run game and disruptive defense.

AFC Championship Game prediction: Colts 24 Jets 13

Although I am a huge Darrelle Revis fan and big supporter of former Ravens Defensive Coordinator Rex Ryan, now Head Coach of the Jets, I do believe that their fairytale playoff run will end at the hands of the team that basically let them into the playoffs by folding in a home game with a 14-0 record late in the season by resting their stars. I think that with the Colts at full strength right now and their run defense not as inconsistent as they had been throughout much of the season, they will jump on the Jets early and force rookie QB Mark Sanchez aka Joe 2.0 into some costly mistakes, just as the Steelers did to Ravens then-rookie QB Joe Flacco in last season's AFC Championship game.

NFC Championship Game prediction: Vikings 45 Saints 42

Personally, I believe that this game has the potential of being the best Conference Championship game we've witnessed in a long time. The best NFC Championship game I've ever seen was the Falcons at the Vikings in 1998 when the Falcons won in OT off a miracle missed FG by Vikings kicker Gary Andersen. That was a classic and I think this game has all the makings of a classic. I see no reason that Drew Brees doesn't throw at least 5 TDs on that weak Vikings secondary, but I do think that the Vikings D-Line led by Jared Allen will disrupt Brees and possibly force a crucial turnover or two. On the other side of the ball, I see Brett Farve and his magic shredding the Saints and keeping them off balance with a steady dose of Adrian Peterson to control the clock and wear out a Saints D that isn't big and overpowering. The x-factor in this game could be Percy Harvin with a crazy kick return or a big play as a wideout.

If all goes as planned, a Manning v. Farve Superbowl would most likely be the most watched Superbowl of all-time. Imagine if Manning and the Colts had romped into this game undefeated, imagine the hoopla then!

On to the NBA, some quick hits regarding the Association!

The All Star Weekend is quickly approaching and there's a lot of hype about the dunk contest and whether LeBron should own up to his word and enter. I've been a firm believer that for LBJ to hit Kobe and MJ status, he must add a dunk contest trophy to his mantel. HOWEVER, if his main competition is going to be 5'9'' Nate Robinson and Shannon Brown, then there's really no reason for him to enter. LeBron has been in the league too long to just now be in his first contest and it not be against Melo and D-Wade.

Staying with the All-Star Weekend talk, the starting lineups for the All Star game have been announced after fans have been voting for months. I do not have any problems with the lineups (http://www.nba.com/allstar2010/?ls=iref:nbahpt1), except for Allen Iverson starting. I believe that he has an obligation to start since he was voted in, but it shows a flaw in fan voting when Rajon Rondo or Joe Johnson might lose a spot on the team because Iverson, who has only played in 19 games (and not very well at that), gets voted in by his adoring, but ridiculous fans. In the end however, I'm just glad Steve Nash is starting and not Tracy McGrady. Now that would have a travesty.

Big game of this past week was Lakers at Cavaliers and the Lake Show was battered and bruised into another loss from the LeBrons. Although I don't believe the Cavs will make it to the Finals to play Kobe and the Lakers, these two losses to the Cavs should wake the Lakers up to East coast basketball before they fall back into that finesse style that got them ran off the court by the Celtics in the 2008 Finals. On the Cavs side, these victories show a lot of growth in LeBron and the team, as winning big games like this builds confidence and gives a team like this experience for the playoffs. I'll tell you one thing though. I would mind seeing a Kobe v. LeBron NBA Finals, because until the Lakers get tougher down low, the Cavs have a significant advantage.

As the season wears on and the trade deadline nears, the NBA season will get even more exciting, as will the column. For now, the NBA is pretty much a 5-6 team race, and I wonder how much stronger those teams can get!

Quick shout out to the University of Pittsburgh Panthers basketball team, who are a surprising 15-3 with a great 5-1 start in the best basketball conference in America, the Big East. Last I checked, the experts had the Panthers in a #2 seed for the NCAA tournament. Same experts who before the season had them finishing in the bottom half of the Big East. Keep fighting forward fellas!

See you next week when "Endzone to the Paint" returns, with some Pro Bowl & Super Bowl talk, comments on the NBA as it nears its midseason, and some college basketball analysis as conference play is in full swing! Comments are definitely necessary for the progression of this column and I also want to know what YOU the reader would like to hear/read me rant about!