Friday 08/28 Quickie: Vick, Barkley,Kinsler, LLWS, Bucs, Piniella, More

I could take or leave the actual way Vick played last night -- number of snaps, where he lined up, any productivity (not that any of us could watch it live). I was looking for one leading indicator:

What would the Eagles fans do?

And the standing ovation Vick got was the ultimate symbolism of how relatively smoothly -- and incident-free -- his return to the NFL has been.

Once the fans start cheering, the protesters -- the bad memories -- are washed out. That leads today's SN column, but there is a lot more:

*Ian Kinsler: How was he not an All-Star starter again?

*Matt Barkley: True frosh is THAT good (or Corp is that mediocre)

(Trying to remember the last time a true freshman started for a Top 5 team -- I guess the question is whether that team that started a true freshman ended the season in the Top 5...)

*I'm a Byron Leftwich fan, but even I couldn't care less about the Bucs QB situation. (I was in a fantasy draft last night and the Bucs were a consistent and constant source of mockery.)

*LLWS: OK, now THAT was the game of the night last night. Who else will tune in for the US title and/or the LLWS championship game?

*One week from now, the college football season will be underway -- with that great late Thursday night game Oregon-Boise St -- and a week from tomorrow: It begins.

*For the record, my fantasy roster (obviously, you'd want to know who I had the chance to draft, but didn't, etc. And I picked 6th in a 14-team league with 16 slots per team.):

QB: Schaub (no backup)
RBs: Tomlinson, McFadden, McCoy, L. Washington, Coffee, M. Bush
WRs: Wayne, DeSean Jackson, Walter, Harvin, N. Washington, Bennett
TE: Boss
K: Folk
D: Seattle

(I intentionally waited on D until the last pick. I was the last in the league to draft a TE, very late, so I could stockpile RBs and WRs. I didn't pick a backup QB because I plan to start Schaub every week but the bye week, when I can pick someone up, and if he gets injured, I'm screwed anyway. Or, alternatively, I could use any of my depth at RB/WR to trade for a decent QB. My biggest problem will be figuring out who to sit and start at RB and WR. What happens when McCoy and Coffee start producing more than LT and McFadden?)

Complete column here. More later.

-- D.S.