I think the NFL is doing this just a wee bit too early. Perhaps they should wait for, oh, about another five weeks or so...and then do the comparison. Not that this is going to matter to me, and it isn’t...you all know why.
Especially since one team might get it in them to knock the Patriots off, then this whole exercise would be futile.

No thanks to Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA) who threatened Senate hearings if the NFL didn’t broadcast the upcoming game this Sunday when the 15-0* New England Patriots visit the Meadowlands to play the New York Giants. As a result, the NFL relented and now the game will be broadcast on Free TV (CBS and NBC) as well as the NFL Network.
I’m not only going to rip Senator Kerry a new a**hole for wasting MY TAXPAYER DOLLARS AND YOURS, I’m ripping the New England Patriots once again for their perceived undefeated regular-season record thus far; if you want a reminder of why this is so, click on the above asterisk. This game is NOT in the national interest as Senator Kerry claims! What’s more important, the NFL or our continuing War on Terror? Well, Senator Kerry has given you his answer and he, as usual, is full of s**t!
Wake the hell up, America...if you elect Democrats to high office next year, you will get even more endless bulls**t investigations to take our minds off the real danger.

For years I’ve called Olympic figure skating “boxing on blades” because of the perceived crookedness of the judges. Witness the scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games.
Now, a former major star of the sport, John McEnroe, has expressed his opinion that professional tennis may be infiltrated by ”The Organization”. Considering the history of the abovementioned event during the Cold War, this assertion, if it can be corroborated, does not surprise me at all. McEnroe is a brave man indeed if he’s standing up to The Organization.

Let me put it this way. I root for any and all teams which play against Ohio State and Illinois. That means I will pull for LSU in the BCS “National Championship” game and USC in the Rose Bowl. Of course, Notre Dame, the team I loathe more than any other, even worse than Ohio State, did not make it into any Bowl and stayed home.
So in case you want to find out if your team made it into the Bowls, ESPN has a summary here. May the best teams win!

It was bound to happen, and it happened Thursday night, as Green Bay QB Brett Favre injured his right elbow and separated his left shoulder (OWIE!) during the game with Dallas, which the Cowboys won 34-27.
At least Favre has three extra days to recuperate, but in case he isn’t available, then his loss to the Packers may hurt their chances of winning the NFC North division, because the Lions will be watching this very carefully. Stay tuned.

Now here’s something worth a hearty laugh:

And then I found out there’s actually an historical precedent for that phrase back in 1986 by NFL referee Ben Dreith:

“We have a personal foul, on number 99 of the defense, after he tackled the quarterback, he’s giving him the business down there, that’s a 15-yard penalty.”

Today at 1300 hours Eastern time, the NFL will play its first overseas regular-season game at Wembley Stadium in London, as the Miami Dolphins ”play host” to the New York Giants. This will not be a foreign thing to Londoners, as the city hosted the London/England Monarchs for a few years during the 1990s, before the NFL consolidated its World League operations to Europe proper, and became NFL Europa.
American Football in Europe, like soccer in the US, may never approach the popularity levels of the other on the other’s home turf. That said, at least the NFL isn’t going in with no experience. Watch for more regular-season games...and eventually, a Super Bowl...overseas.

Don’t get too smug, Colorado Rockies. There are only two things you have going for you right now: being well-rested after having swept the Diamondbacks, and the altitude at Coors Field.
It won’t matter whether your opponent is the Cleveland Indians or the Boston Red Sox (we’ll find out tonight). I have observed over the years that teams which go seven games to get their league championship tend to do better and win it all. Keep that in mind as you get ready.

Now what’s this bulls**t about? A House Committee (specifically, the Committee on Homeland Security) has instructed Congressional staffers attending NASCAR’s Bank of America 500 race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, which takes place tomorrow, to update their immunizations.
And a Republican Congressman rightfully took offense:

“I have never heard of immunizations for domestic travel, and as the representative for Concord, N.C., I feel compelled to ask why the heck the committee feels that immunizations are needed to travel to my hometown. I have been to numerous NASCAR races, and the folks who attend these events certainly do not pose any health hazard to congressional staffers or anyone else,”

Yet another sign of the ignorance the Democrats have about the rest of the country where they don’t hold an electoral advantage. This only contributes to the Do Nothing image it already has.
You know what I think would be funny? NASCAR Fans irking these Democrat House Committee members who attend any NASCAR event by playing Spot The Fed, going up to them with a copy of their immunization record, and saying “Looky here Con-gressional Staffer! I got here my shots record! I can’t spread no stuff to ya!”

Yes...the last of the 20th Century’s sports curses is still in effect, after the Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep with a 5-1 win in Game 3 of the NLDS. Arizona will host the winner of the Phillies-Rockies series for the National League Championship.
Out of all this, some good comes from Lou Pinella himself, with the right attitude:

This is just a start, fellas. We’re going to get better with this.”

Pinella isn’t afraid to build his team from the ground up. I have a feeling that under his management, the Cubs will finally win a World Series. And we don’t have to worry about the Apocalpyse...for baseball, that is.

Back during the halcyon days of the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Jubilee, each team came up with “throwback” uniforms, which were original depictions of what they wore during their formative years. The two ugliest I remember seeing belonged to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears, which, if I recall, were fashioned somewhat like a bumblebee’s configuration.
And then I saw this uniform today, worn by Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb. Poor Lions. There must have been much weeping and gnashing of their teeth. AIEEEEEE! My Eyes!

Man, yesterday I was sweating it out with my coworkers because we were talking about the Michigan-Notre Dame game today. I was concerned that if Michigan went 0-3 at this stage of the season, Lloyd Carr would be out of a job.
Well i just woke up from a Saturday Afternoon Nap™ to find that Michigan beat the snot out of the so-called “Fighting” Irish, final score was 38-0! So I’m a happy camper. So happy in fact, you can play the mp3 file to hear the Anti-ND song!

First, this should warm the hearts of Ferrari Fans everywhere....

SPA-FRANCORCHAPS, Belgium: McLaren Mercedes, the leading team in the Formula One world championship, was fined $100 million on Thursday and excluded from the constructors’ championship this season in the spying scandal that has plagued the sport all season.
The International Automobile Federation, the sport’s governing body, found the team guilty of cheating by using data obtained from Ferrari, its main rival, to improve its own car, the federation said in a statement issued after a hearing in Paris.
The team may continue to race in the series, however, and its two drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who lead the series this season, will be allowed to keep their points and may continue to fight for the drivers’ title.

So is the $100 million fine paid back to Ferrari, because they got cheated upon? Or does this line the pockets of the FIA officials? Inquiring Minda Want To Know.
Over on our side of the Pond, here’s what happened to the New England Patriots and Coach Bill Belichick:

Calling Belichick’s strategy of videotaping defensive signals on the sideline of Sunday’s game against the Jets “a calculated and deliberate attempt” to break league rules, commissioner Roger Goodell announced .severe penalties against the coach and the franchise in a .letter to the Patriots Thursday night.
Goodell slammed the coach with a $500,000 fine, the maximum allowed, and stripped the Patriots of either a first-round pick in 2008 if they make the playoffs this season or a second- and third-rounder if they don’t. While saying he believed Patriots ownership was unaware of Belichick’s actions, Goodell also fined the club $250,000.

Cheating just doesn’t pay, folks...doesn’t matter which sport.

Instead of treating this game as a regular season opener, the Michigan Wolverines treated their meeting with the Mountaineers of Appalachian State as a pre-season exhibition. WRONG MOVE. They lost, 34-32. Since Boise State’s upset win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Michigan should have taken nothing for granted.
But they did, and now they’ve paid the price. My coworker who’s the Big Ohio State Fan will certainly not let me forget it either.

I have quite a few friends who are diehard Pittsburgh Steelers Fans, and they will likely become quite upset to learn that Jerome Bettis faked the timing of an injury he received before training camp seven years ago:

“Man, did I do a nice job of acting,” Bettis wrote in the book, ”The Bus: My Life in and Out of a Helmet.” “The thing is, I wasn’t faking that I had an injury. I was just faking that the injury happened on that short-yardage play. I had to fool the coaches and the team’s medical department into thinking the injury had occurred on that play. Otherwise, the Steelers would have had their reason to cut me and my salary.”

With Michael Vick killing dogs, Barry Bonds doing ‘roids, former NBA ref Tim Donaghy making bets on games, and now this...I don’t care whether or not he says it’s anecdotal. I have to shake my head and wonder what the frak has happened to the integrity of athletes? Yes, I am saddened by this.