Wednesday 09/26 A.M. Quickie:Vick (Ugh), Grossman, Fielder, Wirtz, More

Today's Names to Know: Michael Vick (ugh: still?), DeAngelo Hall, Deuce McAllister, Rex Grossman, Barry Bonds, Prince Fielder, Mike Gundy, Carl Edwards, Bill Wirtz and More.

Michael Vick indicted (again), cont'd: (Why do I feel like I should apologize for leading with Vick? Feel free to skip right ahead.) So grand jurors didn't stick Vick with an indictment on the killing of dogs, which could have brought 40 years of jail time. Apparently, the local DA Poindexter completely screwed up the process. This was a lay-up: Vick had already confessed to killing dogs! Yet somehow the jury didn't come back with any indictments about that. Vick could still do another 10 years, which ain't puppy dogs and ice cream. (What: Hits too close to home?)

DeAngelo Hall's teammate beat-down: There's no justice like the kind dispensed by teammates, behind closed doors. This was no dorky "Kangaroo Court" or standard hazing; that's apparently the beat-down Hall got for being such a complete dolt both on the field and off of it during Sunday's meltdown.

Deuce McAllister is out for the season: As mentioned yesterday, this means that it's put-up-or-shut-up time for Reggie Bush and his legion of fanboys. Is he an every-down running back in the NFL? I suspect not. And how much will increased carries impact his ability to do things as a receiver? Bush has yet to prove he's the next coming of Marshall Faulk.

Rex Grossman to be benched by the Bears: The QB affectionately known around the blogosphere as the "Sex Cannon" (h/t: KSK) will now become the league's most virile backup. I'm just not sure how much Brian Griese will change things. However, I'm willing to trust the market: What do Griese's "Added" percentages look like in the fantasy leagues? Personally, I remain a fan of Grossman's, going back to college – he was the QB at Florida during my first season of Gators fandom.*

(* - Standard disclosure: Utterly shameless and nominally humiliating bandwagon Florida fandom based on the girl I was dating at the time who later became my wife.)

Barry Bonds' final home game in San Francisco tonight: Will he even play? It would be a shame if he didn't. Fans in San Francisco have gotten a lot out of being able to root for him, but Barry has received even more: A devoted and loyal fan base, when the rest of the country HATED him.

MLB Playoff Chase: Rockies win 9th straight. They remain tied with the Phillies at 1 GB the Padres for the Wild Card (3 GB the D'backs for the division title). But Colorado is emerging as the most likeable (and rootable) team in this playoff chase, for those of us without a team involved in an NL race.

(If I had my preference, I'd like to see the Cubs win the NL Central, the Phillies win the NL East, the D'backs win the NL West – because they're so freakish, see link below – and the Rockies win the Wild Card. The Mets simply don't feel like they've earned it this year.)

Meanwhile: Mets lose, but Phillies lose, too. The Cubs lost, and the Brewers won – Chicago leads that division by 2. The D'backs' lead over the Padres is 2 after losing (SDP won).

MLB Stud: Prince Fielder, who hit 2 HR and at 23 became the youngest player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs. I don't think this should be understated: He's one of baseball's true phenoms – I mean, just look at his body – and has the chance to be a Face of Baseball.

MLB Must-Read: Great WashPost article about the how the D'backs have defied the Pythagorean theory about runs scored relating to expected winning percentage.

MLB Hiring: Are Pirates fans excited about the team hiring Neal Huntington as GM?

Upon further reflection, Milton Bradley's season-ending injury is quite possibly the most effed-up on-field-ish injury I have ever heard of. Not only was he hurt being held back by his coach during a tirade on an ump, but apparently the ump went rhetorically batshit crazy on Bradley to incite him.

Jenni Carlson vs. Mike Gundy, Cont'd: He wants to put his YouTube moment behind him; she wants to know where the errors were in her column. I think Gundy was a moron to blitz Carlson like that. It had to have been intentional and premeditated; in the age of YouTube, only a moron would do something like that not understanding the consequences. (It doesn't help that I suspect his tirade was based in part on misogyny, not entirely on a dislike of sports media.) Now, Gundy is forever best-known as the college coach who freaked out; unfortunately for Carlson, when you're a top Google search for the day, she will forever be best-known as his target.

Kudos to reader Jason H., who called me on ripping AP voters for having Louisville over Kentucky two weeks ago, even after Kentucky beat Louisville, then myself having Penn State ranked ahead of Michigan. As I mentioned to him after his quasi-taunting email (which I welcomed), that theory only holds up in the first 2-3 weeks of the season. Then you get into too many situations where underdogs beat better teams, screwing up the whole transitive-property theory of ranking.

(Also: Settle another email question I had about my BlogPoll rankings – who should be ranked higher this week: Ohio State or Cal? After Cal's huge game this weekend at Oregon, the Bears will either be a Top 5 team with a win, or replaced in the Top 10 by Oregon with a loss.)

Notre Dame SuckWatch (TM): Quote from Nebraska linebacker Corey McKeon on the team's lack of support following the close win over Ball State. "We're 3-1 and people are looking at it like we haven't won. They're looking at us like Notre Dame, like we're 0-4." (via USA Today)

NASCAR Cheatin': Carl Edwards drops from 3rd to 6th in the Nextel Cup standings, both because of -- and despite -- winning in Dover last weekend. That's because he was docked 25 points for cheating. Now: Imagine in any other sport a title contender – in the playoffs – cheating after a huge win, and everyone kind of going "oh," then returning to business as usual, because, I would presume, everyone cheats. This is NASCAR, which makes Bill Belichick look like a rank amateur.

NHL: Bill Wirtz, longtime owner of the Blackhawks, is dead at 77. Condolences to his family, friends and Blackhawks fans. The team may have been frustrating to its fans in the last few seasons, but that's not the point today.

-- D.S.

Tuesday 09/25 A.M. Quickie:Saints, VY, Vick, Wild Cards, Tyson, CFB, More!

UPDATE: Michael Vick indicted locally in Virginia. Given that the prosecutor plans on using Vick's own sworn statement of facts from the Feds' conviction against him here, Vick is SO screwed. (The key detail: Up to 5 years for every dead dog, which the statement of facts already affirms he was involved in. Yikes.)

Plus: How did I miss the Devil Rays' name change to just "Rays," along with new logos and uniforms. I'm late on this, and I'm bummed by their choice. The team -- which has one of the best ownership groups in sports -- totally blew a chance to do something interesting that could help the team gain traction. Did they really think there was so much brand value in "Rays" that they were compelled to keep it? Really? Verdict: Swing and a miss.

MNF: If there's a single most disappointing team (or even storyline) in the NFL this season, it's that the Saints are terrible. Not just a hard-luck 0-3, but their offense – which was so exciting last year – is anemic this season.

Meanwhile, what's the deal with Reggie Bush? Sure, Reggie Bush scored 2 TDs, but he accounted for only 35 total yards, including a mere 15 rushing (on 7 carries). At what point do we get to say that Bush isn't (or hasn't) fulfilled his "game-changing" potential?

(Now: Will things get better or worse for Bush with Deuce apparently out for the season? On the one hand, Bush gets tons more carries; on the other hand, is he really an every-down RB? If you had a two-player draft today to start your franchise, and the choices were either Reggie Bush or Adrian Peterson, who would you take? Consider: Bush is a Swiss Army knife of a threat; Peterson can actually be a franchise-carrying every-down RB.)

As for the Titans, once again, Vince Young gets the best of Reggie Bush. It was a solid – if not spectacular –- line for VY. But the Titans got a much-needed win.

Vick Watch: Looks like the local county prosecutor is going to the grand jury, which means that charges can't be too far away either. Anticipate the media craziness, even if you really don't care (or never cared) that much anymore.

NFL Injury Watch: Steven Jackson, one of the most disappointing fantasy players of the season so far, will miss at least one week with a groin injury. Can you think of a year recently when the consensus No. 1 (LT), 2 (SJ) and 3 (LJ) fantasy players have gotten off to such sorry starts?

MLB Playoff Races: The Mets' lead in the NL East is down to 2 after losing to the Nats (who deserve credit for easily surpassing the doomsday projections that they would be the Top 5 worst teams in baseball history. Hell, they're on the verge of not even being one of the Top 5 worst teams in baseball this season.)

NL Wild Card: The Padres lost and are now tied with the Phillies, a mere one game ahead of the surging Rockies.

AL Wild Card: The Yankees clinched a tie for the WC and can clinch a spot in the playoffs with a win Tuesday or a Tigers loss.

MLB Dud: Milton Bradley, whose season is over after he tore his ACL during his latest Bradley freak-out.

PED Scandal: Wow, that was a massive DEA steroid-ring bust. It's not just that it probably reaches into all levels of sports (and let's get those names going!), but that it reaches into EVERYWHERE. You think it's just a pro-athlete thing? Ha!

Tyson pleads guilty to drug and DUI charges: And one of the sorriest tales in modern sports history gets even sorrier.

NBA: Seattle is suing the Sonics to keep them from leaving town. This can only get much, much uglier. Look, Seattlites: If Baltimore couldn't keep the Colts and Cleveland couldn't keep the Browns, you sure as hell aren't keeping the Sonics if the owners want to move them to, say, Oklahoma City.

CFB: If you didn't see it yesterday, here's my latest Deadspin CFB guest-post. Yes, I lead with Tebow, but there's a lot more than that packed in there this week.

More: Everyone in the Comments is talking about the Mike Gundy press conference freak-out. Here's the video.

More CFB: Heisman Watch. I realize I didn't update my weekly Heisman Top 5 yesterday: (1) Tim Tebow, (2) Ray Rice, (3) Darren McFadden, (4 – tie) Pat White and Steve Slaton, (5) Andre Woodson.

Why 1-AA rules, Part Nth: While the "F.B.S." (1-A) can't get its act together to set up a playoff, the "F.C.S." (1-AA) is thinking about expanding its playoff system to 18 teams, which I heartily endorse.

NASCAR: Coors Light is becoming the official beer of NASCAR. I can't think of anything clever to say about that. Is there even auto racing in the Mountain time zone?

A-Rod getting an ownership stake as part of his next deal? Huge kudos to Deadspin's Will Leitch for not only writing a phenomenal story for New York magazine about A-Rod, but breaking the most intriguing off-field baseball story of the week: That after opting out, A-Rod could be courted with an ownership stake in the Chicago Cubs as part of his compensation.

First of all, this would be amazing, simply because it's unprecedented in baseball. Second, if any player deserves $30M a year (or $300M for 10), it's A-Rod (even if he'll be 42 when it's up). Let's be clear: NO player deserves $30M a year (though the market will bear what it will bear).

By the way, I think Will just gave Angels owner Arte Moreno a new idea of how to land A-Rod. I could see Moreno being much more likely to give A-Rod a piece of his club, than the TBD new Cubs owner (who might not even be in place by the time A-Rod does his deal).

UPDATE: As Commenters are pointing out, this theory has been (mostly) debunked. It's still a fun read, as it is only minimally about the Cubs/ownership thing, and mostly about A-Rod's future.

CFB Coach of the Year: Here's a fun side project I've been working on – this football season, I'm blogging at CoachOfTheYear.com, the site of the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award. (Rutger's Greg Schiano won last year.) The fans get a vote (in fact, there's a ballot updated a couple times a day), and I'm writing three blog posts a week. Feel free to head over there, check it out, vote and comment on the blog posts about the topic at hand (or anything related to analyzing college football coaches this season). And since you know the guest-blogger, you've got an "in." Check it out!

Fall TV: It's no secret that I'm a bit of a TV junkie. While the "Fall Premieres" aren't what they used to be (with networks putting shows out all year round), it's still a big week, particularly for returning shows.

Last night, I watched one returning show (Heroes) and one new one (Chuck). Heroes had a lot of balls to keep juggling in the air; it felt like the beginning of another long season.

Chuck was more self-contained. I'm always intrigued by series premieres, because they have to explain the main plot and the characters in a very short amount of time. Chuck's premise is simple. Its main character is very likeable. I think there's promise there.

-- D.S.

Monday 09/24 A.M. Quickie:McNabb, Packers, Cowboys, Michigan, Wild Card, More!

Today's Names to Know: Donovan McNabb, Brett Favre, Norv Turner, Tony Romo, Larry Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson, Earnest Graham, Vince Young, Tim Tebow, Angels and Indians, Colorado Rockies, Jamie Mottram and More!

UPDATE: New Deadspin CFB column up.

I suppose in a season where there is such clarity at the top – the Pats are the league's best and no one else is even close right now – that it makes sense that the rest of the league would be so utterly confusing:

What McNabb controversy? In a classic "STFU" performance and Sunday's top NFL story, McNabb led the Eagles to more than a half-century's worth of points, including 4 TDs, 381 yards and 0 INTs. Given the circumstances, it just might have been the best performance of McNabb's career.

The Packers are 3-0...: And if this is Brett Favre's swan song, it's already a hell of a ride. (And I say that as a constant naysayer for the past few seasons.) Next week: All-time career TD record.

...And the Chargers are 1-2: Wow, this is disappointing. Is it Norv Turner's fault? All I know is that I'm pretty sure that I could be the head coach of this much talent and come up with more inspired performances. I know their early schedule has been tough, but still...

Sunday Night Beat-Down: Cowboys throttle Bears in Chicago. First, Dallas: They're so legit, and I take back my stupid notion they wouldn't win the NFC East, let alone make the playoffs. They have to be considered the class of the NFC right now. (Wow: Is Tony Romo the best QB in the NFC?) Next, Chicago: Wow, last year's NFC title game feels like a lifetime ago. I just can't see how Rex Grossman can continue to be the starting QB, and Cedric Benson stinks (made worse by Thomas Jones running for 110 yards... for the Jets).

The hapless Chiefs beat the Vikings: And that was basically without any production from Larry Johnson, who has been a complete bust this season. Karmic payback from his holdout? Meanwhile, why was Adrian Peterson on the sidelines for the Vikings' final chance to tie or win the game? (He can't block? So what? Give him the freaking ball!)

The Jags beat the Broncos in Denver: I'm a Jags fan, and even I checked "Broncos" in my Pick 'Em leagues late last week about this one. Denver simply isn't supposed to lose games like this one against a team like this one at home. No chance for Elam heroics this week.

Very simple question: How do the Redskins not score from "First and Goal on the 1?"

Fantasy: Earnest Graham, "Add" superstar. I'm quite sure no one saw this coming. Nor did you probably expect Kevin Curtis to be fantasy's leading WR this weekend. (Injuries: How bad is Calvin Johnson's bruised lower back? How bad is Hines Ward's "bone bruise" in his leg?)

MNF Tonight: Saints/Titans. It doesn't lack for "young" star power, featuring Vince Young and Reggie Bush. Could be a showcase game for either/both. I'm betting, like the 2006 Rose Bowl before it, VY comes up bigger in tonight's game.

CFB Weekend Wrap: Michigan's back... Notre Dame still stinks... Heisman: Tim Tebow is my new front-runner... Win of the Week: Georgia at Alabama... Loss of the Week: Louisville at home versus Syracuse... No argument here: Oklahoma is better than Florida.

MLB Playoff Races: AL. The foursome is all but a done deal: Red Sox, Indians, Angels, Yankees. All that's left to be decided is who has the best record in the league and home-field advantages.

The Angels clinched the AL West on Sunday, their third AL-W title in the last four years. It's going to get even more interesting when they import Alex Rodriguez this winter.

UPDATE: Will Leitch has a must-read story about A-Rod for New York magazine, which suggests not only that the Cubs have the inside track, but that there's a chance his deal could include the chance to buy an ownership stake, which would be HUGE. Here's the link.

The Indians clinched the AL Central on Sunday, too, their first division title since 2001 and one that feels a long time coming, given how close they've come the last few seasons. I think Cleveland just might be my pick to win the ALCS.

MLB Playoff Races: NL. From most fans' perspective (and certainly the league's), the only thing that matters is that the Cubs make the playoffs and – hopefully – advance to the World Series. They won't, of course. Even with only a half-dozen or so games to play, the division races are tight enough to pay attention, and the Wild Card remains up in the air -- and hopefully down to the wire.

(You know who's intriguing? Colorado, now just 1.5 GB the Wild Card lead. I've seen them a few times in person this season, and they are the Surprise of the Year in MLB. If momentum factored into Wild Card worthiness, the Rockies would be in right now.)

Varsity Dad: If your last name was "Fields," would you name your kid "Wrigley?"

Bonds Watch: Where will Bonds play next year? Any contender – particularly in the AL, where he can DH -- would be insane not to sign him at what will likely be a significant discount. I could see the A's getting him, but – speaking of the Angels – what if LAA grabbed him to bat behind A-Rod?

Online Media Inside Baseball: Jamie Mottram joins Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo has made some aggressive hires in the past 12-18 months, but none are as big or important as this one, announced Friday, securing the talents of one of the smartest (not to mention one of the nicest and most-admired) people in the sports-blog universe. For gosh sakes, he was the architect of the Fanhouse, arguably the most successful mainstream online-sports editorial concept of all time. (And second-cleverest... cough!) Jamie will be running Yahoo Sports' blogs and community efforts, and if his impact on things at AOL is any indication, Yahoo Sports will add to its already sizeable momentum. Congrats to "Mr. Irrelevant," and kudos to Yahoo.

-- D.S.

CFB Saturday Mid-Evening Update

OK: So I was VERY wrong about Oklahoma losing to Tulsa. As penance, I will leap-frog the Sooners over Florida in my BlogPoll Top 25, up to No. 3.

Meanwhile, the Gators gritted out a win at Ole Miss, but Tim Tebow accounted for 428 yards -- the hard way: 260 passing and 160 rushing, along with 4 TDs (2 pass, 2 rush). WVU's Pat White and Steve Slaton are great: Tebow is like the two of them combined.

Michigan rights the ship: Huge HUGE win vs. Penn State. Mike Hart carries the team, and Chad Henne will never start again as long as Ryan Mallett is healthy.

Notre Dame still sucks. Still! 0-4 for the first time in school history. But, hey, at least they finally scored an offensive TD.

Finally: Louisville. WTF?! Losing at home to lowly Syracuse?

More tomorrow. Back to breaking the Yom Kippur fast.

-- D.S.

Friday 09/21 A.M. Quickie:Pats Tapes Destroyed, NFL/CFB Picks, More!

Today's Names to Know: Destroyed NFL tapes, NFL Picks, Vince Young vs. Donovan McNabb, Kevin Everett, Tulsa, CFB Picks, Angels and Indians, Mets and Phillies, and More.

Lead Item: Pats cheating scandal takes a weird turn: Without a shred of transparency, the NFL has destroyed all the tapes that the Pats turned over to them, simply saying, "Didn't see anything."

I think this will flare into the Big Story today, because "destroying evidence" (particularly without letting anyone else see it) is something we all can conceptualize -- and it doesn't speak to clearing things up.

On the contrary, it instantly implies HIDING things.

We are forced to trust the NFL on their decision-making, but I think you're crazy if you do. It's in the NFL's best interests to lock down on anything... bigger... that they might have found on those tapes. But we'll never know, because the tapes are destroyed and the NFL controls the situation.

Imagine a similar scenario with David Stern or Bud Selig. The outrage would be off the Richter scale. I don't think it's crazy to suggest there would be calls for Congressional hearings.

But King NFL? Please. Won't happen. I hesitate that mainstream media will even try to investigate the increasing (and increasingly legit) claims that are popping up -- including about the Tuck Game, the most iconic of any Pats wins during the dynasty.

Just look at the crackerjack way that mainstream media has taken on the NFL's PED epidemic. Again, if they worked fractionally as hard as they have on MLB's PED scandal, they'd find... that the NFL is SO much worse.

It's not like that would cripple the sport; everyone already assumes that HGH or other PEDs are rampant in pro football, and it doesn't affect the league's popularity one bit.

Still, this is skeevy: Given the rumors that are circulating, it seems suspicious that the league would chirp, "Nothing to see here"... and destroy everything. Not just lock it away, but destroy it.

At the very least, it gives conspiracy theorists (in this case, some would say "realists") a parting gift to the scandal.

As usual, Florio over at PFT has the definitive take on this. (Please, please, please PFT: Can you include permalinks to individual Rumor Mill items? While you're at it, how about an RSS feed?)

NFL Week 3 Preview and Picks: SD d. GB, MIN d. KC, NE d. BUF, NYJ d. MIA, DET d. PHI, PIT d. SF, STL d. TB, BAL d. ARI, IND d. HOU, DEN d. JAX, CLE d. OAK, CIN d. SEA, CAR d. ATL, WSH d. NYG, CHI d. DAL (SNF), NO d. TEN (MNF). LW: 11-5 (07: 23-9)

Feel free to put your favorite Week 3 NFL storyline in the Comments.

McNabb and Black QBs, Cont'd: Where do you stand on Vince Young's reaction to it, which was... no reaction. Literally. "Not my fight," Young said, despite being the heir to Briscoe, Williams and – yes – McNabb.

Without their "fight" before him, Young would be preparing to line up right now at wide receiver.

I appreciate that VY was taking the road of "I'm just concentrating on the game in front of me," but that was intellectually dishonest.

Young needs to have a response; I'm sure he does, but just didn't want to say it, either because he was afraid of getting in the middle of a discussion about race in sports or because he was afraid it might dent his marketability.

CFB Tonight: Oklahoma at Tulsa. And I'm picking Tulsa! The Sooners are 22-point favorites. It could be easy enough for me to take the points, see Tulsa lose by less than 22 and claim moral victory.

But no! I look at Tulsa's crazy-ass offense (managed by prep-football genius turned college coordinator Gus Malzahn) and all I can think of is: Boise State, who used offensive innovation to completely baffle (and beat) Oklahoma.

Now, either Bob Stoops learned his lesson before... or, even if you know it's coming, it's hard to be a BCS-league power and take the sandlot-style of non-BCS football seriously.

The game is at Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane has an unstoppable offense. Everyone assumes this has all the makings of being "Oklahoma's year."

I'm calling the shocker: Tulsa beats Oklahoma.

More CFB Top 25 Preview and Picks: Picking Tulsa over Oklahoma makes up for the fact that a combination of patsy opponents and (mostly) home games means that there will be an absurdly low number of unexpected scores this weekend. In fact, I pick all but two ranked teams to win, one by necessity:

While newly minted Top 25 team Alabama has a must-win at home against No. 22 Georgia, newly unranked Arkansas, back at home, will catch No. 21 Kentucky (coming off the win over rival Louisville) in a classic let-down game.

Everything else? Yawn: Top 25 teams jockeying for style points. (Um, nevermind the fact that I picked A&M over unranked Miami and already blew that one.)

I guess that works out better for me, given that I will be refraining from watching football during the day in observance of Yom Kippur.

(Is it wrong that I'm TiVo'ing the big games – including Florida at Ole Miss -- to watch once the sun goes down? Does that defile the spirit of deprivation and repentance the holiday demands?)

Anyway, the picks:
USC (1) over Washington St
LSU (2) over South Carolina (12)
Florida (3) over at Ole Miss
Tulsa over Oklahoma (4) (UPSET SPECIAL)
West Virginia (5) over E. Carolina
Cal (6) over Arizona
Texas (7) over Rice
Ohio State (8) over Northwestern
Wisconsin (9) over Iowa
Penn State (10) over at Michigan
Oregon (13) over at Stanford
B.C. (14) over Army
Clemson (15) over NC State
Alabama (16) over Georgia (22) (GOTW)
VA Tech (17) over William and Mary
Louisville (18) over Syracuse
Hawaii (19) over Charleston Southern
Arkansas over Kentucky (21) (SUPER-STUD WATCH)
South Florida (23) over UNC
Nebraska (24) over Ball State
Missouri (25) over Illinois State

Notre Dame SuckWatch (TM): And the worst marketing idea of the year goes to... adidas and Notre Dame, which will outfit fans at the Stadium with... white towels. Because nothing says "Fight on!" like a white towel.

CFB Thursday: Miami 34, Texas A&M 17. So much for the Aggies as a darkhorse national-title contender. Meanwhile, which team is Miami: The one who clobbered A&M or the one who got clobbered by Oklahoma?

Kevin Everett Update: Between the "Belicheat" and "McNabb" memes over the last two weeks, it's amazing simply to find out that doctors think Everett can be walking in the next few weeks.

MLB Pennant Racing:

Mets Collapse, Cont'd: After a 10-inning loss last night to the Marlins (where they blew a three-run lead...twice), the Mets are now just 1.5 games ahead of the Phillies, who won.

Angels thisclose to clinching: Just need to win tonight versus Seattle to become the first team to earn a playoff spot.

(Indians close, too. And is this the weekend the Yankees catch – or pass – the Red Sox in the AL East? I know I have talked for months about the only thing mattering being making the playoffs however you can; the division title is relatively meaningless as long as you win the Wild Card. However, I now find this intriguing, even though both teams are virtual locks to make the playoffs. It would be infinitely better if it was a runner-up-is-out situation. Get on that, MLB!)

NL West: Padres win 7th straight, putting them only .5 GB the D'backs. The reason the NL East race is so insane is that the loser will likely miss the playoffs entirely, probably because of the NL West.

MLB: Ken Griffey will miss the rest of the season. September 20? You definitely won if, at the start of the season, you picked the "over."

Astros hire Ed Wade: When I first wrote this, I accidentally typed "Astros fire Ed Wade." Fast-forward anywhere between 3-8 seasons, and that's pretty much what you'll have.

PGA and PEDs: The PGA will institute PED-testing in 2008, presumably more than enough time for the dozens of players you just KNOW are using rule-bending drugs to get their system clean.

(If you think I'm crazy to suggest that many PGA players are using PEDs, YOU'RE the one who is delusional. It's like you haven't been paying attention to sports for the last decade.)

Yes, Floyd Landis is still a cheater.

Must-Read: Big Daddy Drew's lead-in to his weekly Deadspin NFL guest-post. Filed under "Wish I Wrote That."

The Big Picture's "Would You Do..." Tournament returns... for Round 2. Here's a link.

Housekeeping: Sorry to pack so much into a single post. Abbreviated day for me here. I'll try to set up a CFB Live-Comment post for Saturday's games before the end of the day, even though it'll be early.

-- D.S.

Thursday 09/20 A.M. Quickie:McNabb, Pettitte, T.O., Junior's 88, CFB, More!

UPDATE: Under the wire, A&M (20) over at Miami tonight. Complete CFB and NFL picks coming tomorrow morning!

McNabb QB-Race Debate: McNabb weighs in with his own blog post over at YardBarker, which has found a nice little niche offering itself as a p.r. outlet for athletes. (And I'm not saying that to diminish it. As long as the athletes play it straight with readers, that's great. Look what it did for Greg Oden's cachet.)

Kudos to Dan Steinberg on the insightful take on this story I should have had on Tuesday morning. (I'm happy to admit it: Those who say the "Rex Grossman Example" is a poor one might be right.)

I think it's important to point out that white columnists are ripping McNabb while black columnists are saying, "Well, obviously." That's as intriguing as the original sentiment, because if anything is "obvious," it's that there's a racial-perspective issue among sports columnists. As usual, mainstream sports columnists, in general, are – across the board – overly shrill and mostly over-simplified to the point of inanity. But that's the job description.

Today's Must-Read: With Leather's Matt Ufford (aka KSK's Captain Caveman) is one of the most talented writers ever created by the enema that is the sports-blog universe. There are moments, however, when he absolutely crushes a topic. He's like vintage Lewis Black. Recently, KSK had a post putting a bounty on Tom Brady's knees. Ufford comes back with a "counterpoint" that is dazzling. (The only problem is that he seems to think that Pats fans haven't yet reached the level of insufferableness of, say, Yankees fans. He's wrong; they have, but it's a total "Boston sports" insufferableness than the Pats specifically.)

By the way, Belichick responded to the talk about 16-0 (shouldn't that be 19-0, Boston Herald?): "That's so ridiculous."

Here's the new meme about this story: That the presumed whistle-blower Eric Mangini has blown himself out of a future in the NFL, because teams won't trust he won't go blabbing. Nothing like encouraging the league's cult of secrecy. Cripes: It's a GOOD thing, not a bad thing, that he turned in his mentor. It's like the NFL team front-offices are poster guys for the "Stop Snitching" campaign.

T.O. fined $7,500 for TD celebration, when he pretended to "videotape" the cameraman, using the football as a mock camera. I actually thought it was pretty clever of him (it topped Chad Johnson's leap into the Dawg Pound, although that was ballsy if nothing else).

Indians sweep Tigers: Cleveland's magic number is 3. Concentrate on the Yankees and Red Sox all you want; I think it will be three AL pennants in a row for the representative from the Central.

Yankees: 1.5 GB Red Sox.

MLB Milestone Watch: Pettitte 200.

Is Albert Pujols' season over?

Dale Earnhardt Jr to drive car No. 88: I've mentioned a lot that numbers in NASCAR matter more than numbers in any other sport; they are part of the drivers' iconography. What makes Junior's new number so inspired is that -- unable to use his old No. 8 -- he simply co-opted it, even doubling it up.

More MLB: Here's a first-hand (I guess it's second-hand... now, through me, third-hand) account of Mark Cuban at the Cubs game on Monday night. God, I wish I was there for that. It's like the baseball-fan equivalent of hearing that LeBron has shown up at Rucker Park; you want to get the text message and run over to the Wrigley bleachers to see it for yourself.

That Sabres super-sell-out for the Rich Stadium game: I leave it to the best and most astute hockey analyst I know – Eric McErlain – for the definitive take. The sell-out is good. Even great. It might be the Event of the Year in the NHL and the template for future "event"-style options for a league reduced to mainstream irrelevancy. But there were some ticket problems that real Sabres fans ran into.

CFB Top 25 BlogPoll analysis: Every week, I eagerly anticipate BlogPoll impresario Brian Cook's analysis of the latest Top 25 results from the bloggers involved in the poll. Here are the results, and as he points out, the BlogPoll's ranking of LSU at No. 1 (proud to be part of that group) where the AP and Coaches do not is a source of pride.

Speaking of Cook, Zach over at The Big Picture continues his terrific interview series with bloggers with a Q&A with Cook.

CFB: Notre Dame should be ashamed of themselves for not releasing Demetrius Jones from his scholarship so he can play elsewhere. (Cripes: This team could use all the good karma it can get. This is the opposite.)

CFB Recruiting: Apparently, I wasn't the only one blown away by the gameday atmosphere at the Swamp on Saturday. Five-star recruit Will "The Thrill" Hill of New Jersey, who will play strong safety in college, committed to Florida.

(Dovetailing recruiting with the McNabb story: In recruiting circles, there is a non-specific positional designation known as "athlete," which turns out to be code for "Black QB who will be forced to switch positions." It also turns out that the vast majority of these "athletes" are black.)

Sonny Vaccaro speaks at Harvard Law School: I would like him to recognize his own premier place at the forefront of turning the prep basketball scene into the morass that it is. Then I might be willing to listen to him talk about "reform." However, I believe he and I agree that the NBA age limit is ludicrous.

Talk Like a Pirate Day... was yesterday! And I missed it in the usual a.m. blog post. I'm sorry about that. Yarr. (What... too late?) Anyway, to make up for it, here's a must-read post from Orson Swindle of EDSBS, who has a fetish for wannabe-pirate Mike Leach of Texas Tech and an ear for pirate talk like he was Johnny Depp's stunt-double in POTC.

Finally: Epic Carnival has put together the "10 Types of Sports Bloggers." Wait: Where's the "Formerly Mainstream Media But Now Exposed For The Shallow Fraud That He Was" blogger type?

-- D.S.

Wednesday 09/19 A.M. Quickie:Phillies, Ward, Leftwich, MJD, Tebow, More!

Names to Know: Phillies, Hines Ward, Marc Ecko, Byron Leftwich, Tank Johnson, Andrei Kirilenko, Isiah Thomas, Tim Tebow, OJ...

MLB Stud: Phillies, who beat the Cards in 14 to close within 1.5 GB the Mets (who lost a late lead and the game to the Nats) in the NL East. The Mets have lost 5 straight and it feels like they haven't had any mojo since May.

Ordinarily, it's easier to root for the Mets than it is to root for the Yankees, but in this case I would kind of like to see the Yankees come back and win the division.

However, it's easier to root for the Phillies than for either of the New York teams. Given that the runner-up in the NL East could very well miss the playoffs entirely (say, if the Padres and D'backs both finish with a better record), the Mets had better find a way to turn things around.

(Meanwhile, in a Gotham-sized ironic twist, the Yankees are within 2.5 of the Red Sox in the AL East.)

Hot MLB Rumor: Tony LaRussa ends up in…Seattle!

Bonds 756 Fan Vote: Bonds calls Marc Ecko "stupid." Reiterating yesterday's position, I give Ecko points for cleverness, but I personally would vote to put the ball in the Hall of Fame, not outer space.

Wow, do I enjoy MJD's must-read Debriefing every morning. Today's includes a particularly fun gimmick at the top. I want to play! Jumping or not jumping to these conclusions about the NFL after only 2 games:

Pats can't be stopped: Jumping.
LJ in for a long year: Jumping.
Tomlin a good hire: Jumping.
Turner a bad hire: Jumping.
Steve Smith as best WR: Jumping.
Packers will fade sub-.500: Jumping.
Grossman is hopeless: Jumping.
Texans are actually good: Jumping.

Clean sweep of jumped conclusions after only 2 weeks! (But really: Would you expect anything less from me?) Thanks for allowing me to play, MJD!

Hines Ward accused by business partner: If you have Ward on your fantasy team and your league offers points for "embezzlement accusations," you're going to have a big week!

Byron Leftwich joins Falcons: I'm a big Leftwich fan, but does it really make sense for the least mobile QB in the NFL (in NFL history?) to join the team with the leakiest O-line? (13 sacks allowed in 2 games) Also: Will he dare to wear his usual No. 7? (Update: From the incomparable MDS at Fanhouse, Leftwich won't wear No. 7. Apparently, he'll wear No. 4.)

Tank Johnson joins Cowboys: Would have been a better fit in the mid-90s.

HGH Watch: Does it REALLY surprise you to hear that Rodney Harrison started ordering HGH in 2004? Let's be absolutely clear: I would be surprised to find out that an NFL player DOESN'T use HGH, given its benefits and the lack of testing. We can put a tainted baseball into space but we can't create a reliable urine test for HGH?

NBA: Andrei Kirilenko is blogging in Russian… and demands a trade! He actually has restored some of his value after leading Russia to a title at the European Championships.

Isiah Thomas Lawsuit: I haven't talked about this much, but if the testimony is true, Thomas really has no business running the team, and I'm curious whether David Stern will do James Dolan's work for him and ban Thomas from the NBA upon the trial's result.

Sports Business: Ray Lewis is part of the Under Armour family, which is just about as good of an endorsement fit as I can think of in sports. The "Click-Clack" actor has become quasi-iconic, but they should replace him with Lewis immediately.

CFB: Given that Texas has had 6 players arrested in the last few months, one might wonder what kind of program Mack Brown is running over there. Good thing he's got that championship ring to protect him, Green Lantern-style.

Tim Tebow Update: After the mocking I took in my preseason Heisman preview listing Tebow in my Top 5, he is a legit candidate. His stats are amazing. His team is winning. The New York Times had him listed at No. 2 on their list after Week 3. There's even a T-shirt: "HE15SMAN," which gets points for effort if not elegance. Here's a Palm Beach Post update.

Here's the thing: Unless Florida wins at LSU, Tebow won't be a true contender; if they do win, all bets are off. However, the biggest knock against him will be voters who simply won't vote for a sophomore, figuring they'll vote for him in the next year. Last year, Darren McFadden was the best player in college football, but came in second as a sophomore. Three years ago, Reggie Bush was the best player in college football, but came in second as a sophomore.

Voters figure they can give the award to a sophomore when he's a junior, which is ludicrous. (Now: Is Tebow the best player in college football? No. The best player is McFadden, even though I gave my No. 1 Heisman vote this week to Ray Rice. But Tebow is in the Top 5 right now.)

Meanwhile, here's my video of the day. (h/t Ryan Ferguson at the Fanhouse) You can hate the Gators but enjoy the offensive explosion with a nice little soundtrack.

OJ Update: That's a ton of new charges. A ton. I'm not sure this will produce another Trial of the Century, but hopefully, this time the result includes more justice. Meanwhile, you have to love the audio tape.

-- D.S.

Tuesday 09/18 A.M. Quickie:Campbell, McNabb, Big Hurt, NFL Cheating, More!

McNabb booed by Philly fans: Eagles fans seemed to jump the gun by booing in the first half, but that's their right. (I have to ask: Do they really want rookie Kevin Kolb to take over tomorrow?) I do think it's time for McNabb and Eagles fans to finally part ways, fulfilling the destiny that has been foreshadowed since the moment he was drafted.

Is McNabb's race a factor in the booing? Given Philly fans' long history with jeers, I think they are equal-opportunity booers. But, at the same time, I agree with McNabb from his HBO interview tonight that race is still a factor when it comes to NFL QBs.

(That said: Between Vince Young's spot on the cover of Madden '08 and JaMarcus Russell's spot at the top of the draft – and rookie-contract history – it's not as much of an issue as when McNabb was drafted into the league. Across the field last night, Jason Campbell – who looked terrific -- seems to have a lot of support from fans in DC. Meanwhile, Rex Grossman is just about as white as they come, and he's getting booed to holy hell right now. However, I'm sympathetic to McNabb's larger point.)

Redskins beat Eagles in Philly: I have no idea why I picked the Eagles to win the NFC East. It's coming dangerously close to a "rebuilding" season – and Donovan McNabb's swan song in the city…

More NFL Cheating?! Hardly. The tiresome Brian Billick claims the Jets illegally simulated snap counts that triggered offensive penalties on the Ravens.

First of all, the Ravens won, so Billick should really STFU. Second, this type of offense is much more like the old blissful low-tech gamesmanship than high-tech chicanery. Absolutely, it's against the rules. The question is: Where were the refs, if this happened as repeatedly as Billick claims?

The larger issue: Are we about to enter a phase in the NFL where every week there's a new claim about some form of cheating? That could get old in a hurry.

MLB Stud: Frank Thomas, who hit 3 HR on Monday. By the time the Big Hurt enters the Hall of Fame, there will be a way greater appreciation for his talent, which I think everyone agrees seems to be taint-free (a rarity for his generation).

Stud Team: Indians, who beat the Tigers in 11 innings to move their magic number to 7. (The Angels' magic number is low enough that clinching is within reach in the next week, too.)

MLB Dud: The Mets, who lost their fourth straight last night and have a very tenuous 2.5 game lead in the NL East. It's really not a big deal if they blow the division as long as they win the Wild Card; that said, if they blow the division, winning the Wild Card is no gimme either.

(Of course, if I'm going to say the Mets are in trouble being only 2.5 games ahead in their division, do I have to say the same thing about the Red Sox, who are now only 3.5 games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East?)

Bonds 756 Ball: Darren Rovell revealed that the guy who bought 755 will do a similar deal to Marc Ecko: Let fans vote whether the ball goes to the Hall of Fame or into outer space. But the 755 guy will make the online voting public and real-time, which is much cooler than Ecko, who seemingly won't. Rovell has all the details. (By the way, while I think the idea of launching it into space is funny, I'm voting for the ball to go to the Hall of Fame.)

Andre Johnson will sit out on Sunday: Having a fantastic season with new QB Matt Schaub, Johnson hurt his knee and will miss the next game, and we have no idea how it will affect the rest of his season.

Are the Falcons about to sign Byron Leftwich? (Uh: Will they let him wear his usual No. 7? Um: Will he even want to? And: Will any fans want to wear it, if the reaction from a distance will be "Are you wearing a Michael Vick jersey?!")

Did you like what you saw from Kellen Clemens in the 4th quarter on Sunday? Tuck that away: Looks like Chad Pennington will be returning as Jets starting QB... for now.

Steven Jackson explains his sideline rage at Rams coach Scott Linehan: Just a misunderstanding. But Jackson's fantasy owners have had similar reactions.

Rahula Strohl of the Chicago Tribune's excellent lead sports blog correctly disses me for not giving a nod to Devin Hester's performance on Sunday.

(By the way, as the Gainesville hangover wears off, let me say that the Gators have their own version of Hester – Brandon James, who is arguably the best kick and punt returner in college football. He might be even more of a game-changer than Tebow or Harvin. At any rate, they are the team's Big Three. How did I turn a mea culpa about my NFL coverage into a laudatory item about Florida football? And yet: There it is.)

NBA ref Joey Crawford has been reinstated, just in time to take a season of abuse from fans on, like, half-a-dozen topics.

CFB: Does it matter if Michigan QB Chad Henne is "day-to-day?" If Ryan Mallett beats Penn State and turns around the Wolverines' season, Henne won't/shouldn't get his job back; if Mallett and UM lose, the rest of the season should be about getting him game experience anyway. (Why am I giving so much space to an unranked team?)

Steve Spurrier gets it: He gave LSU his vote for No. 1 in the coaches' Top 25. By the way, a substantial amount of chatter in Gainesville this past week was about Les Miles leaving LSU for Michigan... and Spurrier replacing him at LSU, which I think he would in a heartbeat.

More CFB: Here's a link to my latest Deadspin weekly CFB guest-post.

Revision: I oversimplified the "quarterfinal" scenario in the Pac-10: USC could just as easily lose at Oregon as they can at Cal. (In fact, part of my reason for not picking the Trojans in my preseason Top 2 is because I thought they would lose to BOTH teams.) I didn't mean to dis the Ducks: Revise that to a three-way race, although – much like how I suspect the Big Ten will unfold with its own Big Three (Penn St, Wisconsin, Ohio St), there's a high likelihood that the three Pac-10 teams could knock each other off, round-robin style, effectively eliminating any of them from the national-title picture.

Must-Read: Clay Travis on his Saturday in Gainesville. We had a chance to run into each other. He's a really good guy with a great book out about the SEC, if you like college football.

Here's his lead: "I had the best seats of my life for the worst beating in my life as a Tennessee football fan. Which was sort of like getting the password to a free porn site and then finding out your daughter is an employee. Only worse." Read on.

The Women's World Cup is for pimps: Huge hat-tip to Awful Announcing for plucking what could be the best video clip of the month. Here's a link. Because nothing dovetails with the "female empowerment" theme of the Women's World Cup like a scene that puts former female soccer players in the role of hookers snuggling up to their "daddy."

Dane Cook vs. Bill Simmons: Apparently, this is a feud. I could take it or leave it. I'm simply laughing that Cook apparently enjoyed sloppy-seconds in my old top-of-the-morning chat hour slot on ESPN.com.

Varsity Dad: New post up about when autograph sessions go wrong.

-- D.S.

Monday 09/17 A.M. Quickie:Pats, Browns, Schaub, Wynn, CFB Top 25, More!

Today's Names to Know: Randy Moss, Derek Anderson, DeShawn Wynn, Steven Jackson, Matt Schaub, Amobi Okoye, Robert Kraft, Tim Tebow, Jim Thome, OJ and More.

Pats crush Chargers: It won't keep people from associating "Patriots" with "Cheaters," but it also won't keep people from agreeing that these Pats are not just the team to beat this season, but are already sizing up as the best of the Pats teams of the last decade.

Let's call this what it was -- a "Statement" game: Crap on us all you want, America, we're going to obliterate the NFL's next-best team to prove just how good – how tough – we are.

Effectively, the Pats have turned into the old Madden-esque Raiders or Johnson's Cowboys, where the polite wave in the style of "America's Team" has been replaced by the middle finger of "We don't care what you think." (Ironically, it makes them more – not less – likeable.)

Browns edge Bengals in barnburner: If you knew in advance that the Bengals were going to score 45 points against the Browns, I guarantee they would have been your "suicide" eliminator pool LOCK of the season. Too bad we all underestimated Derek Anderson. Based on the rest of the afternoon's results, it's like these two teams sucked up all of the fantasy production from the rest of the QBs, WRs and RBs out there.

Speaking of fantasy, my Stud of the Week is DeShawn Wynn (and not just because I spent the week in Gainesville). His 2 TDs sets Wynn up as a classic TD stealer (especially considering his intrasquad competition is a fellow rookie).

My Fantasy Dud of the Week is Steven Jackson, the consensus No. 2 overall fantasy pick has been a complete waste, outperformed by the likes of... well, DeShawn Wynn.

Schaub Mania: If you had to pick an NFL MVP after two weeks, I think Schaub (of the 2-0 Texans) would be the choice. He silences the haters. He makes Falcons fans weep. He is for real. And the Texans are 2-0 for the first time in franchise history.

NFL Milestones: Brett Favre is now the winningest QB in NFL history. More importantly, he won on this most recent Sunday.

Adrian Peterson Memorial Weekly Rookie of the Year Award: Amobi Okoye. The youngest player in the NFL is also apparently one of its most talented. He recorded two sacks and a forced fumble yesterday. Okoye is what Mario Williams was supposed to be last year.

Who had the Saints at 0-2?

Who had the 49ers at 2-0?

MNF: Redskins-Eagles. Philly needs a win, badly. Expect Jaworski to be on fire for his old team.

Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft don't care about the haters: There's no other reason they'd time the leak of the news that Belichick is signed through 2013. That's more than enough time for him to devise new ways to cheat to win. (Don't worry: I'm already getting tired of associating "cheater" with "Belichick" every time his name comes up.)

Meanwhile, speaking of Belicheat: The NFL wants anything associated with the cheating in question. Yeah, good luck with the Pats complying on that. Presumably, the shredders and incinerators and dumpsters over at the Pats facility are working overtime tonight.

(Anyone else catch Roger Goodell doing his interview with Costas? He wasn't as deft as David Stern, but he stuck to his message point, the same one the league has used for years: Parity rules... or: The rules have to be the same for everyone.)

College Football Top 25: I think merely three games into the new season, we've got a consensus about who the reasonable contenders are: USC (as long as they beat Cal); Oklahoma (as long as they beat Texas); the LSU-Florida winner of the SEC Championship Game; and the West Virginia-Rutgers winner. No offense to the rest, but there's going to be a lot more attrition. CFB will be lucky to have one team go unbeaten, let alone two.

Here's my BlogPoll ballot this week.

My current Heisman ballot:
1. Ray Rice, RB, Rutgers
2. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida
3. Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas
4. PJ Hill, RB, Wisconsin
5. Andre Woodson, QB, Kentucky

(You didn't have to see Tim Tebow live and in the stadium like I did to realize that my preseason prediction he'd be in the Heisman Top 5 isn't THAT crazy. Number 2, as of this week? Perhaps. But again: Not THAT crazy.)

Clemens vs. Fenway, the Finale: Impressively, it was Derek Jeter who stole the show with a 3-run HR in the 8th.

MLB Milestones: Thome joins the "500 Club." Todd Jones joins the "300 Saves Club."

NBA: Don Nelson returning to the Warriors. He'll be hard-pressed to top last season's glorious playoff run. But it will be fun to see him try.

Tiger wins the Fed Ex Cup: Wait, is that the one where they put his prize money in a 401K?

OJ arrested: I don't know what's sweeter – the justice or the irony?

-- D.S.

Sunday 09/16 (Very) Quickie

Brief comments on Saturday's CFB results:

I think there are three "first tier" national-title contenders: USC (if they survive their Pac-10 road schedule), Oklahoma (even if the Big 12 isn't that tough) and the SEC survivor of LSU and Florida (complicated by the SEC title-game factor).

Kentucky is the new hotness.

Louisville is not.

It's too bad that Heisman favorite Darren McFadden couldn't play in the most important series of the game against Alabama.

That was a big win for USC.

Should there be a QB controversy in Baton Rouge between Flynn and Perilloux, or is this just Leak-Tebow 2.0?

PJ Hill should be on Heisman lists.

More later.

-- D.S.

Saturday 09/15 (Very) Quickie

Back from the break for the Jewish holidays, but still in Gainesville...

First, a catch-up on the two biggest stories of the late-week:

"Belicheater" Scandal: The punishment struck me as pretty tame, but the far bigger "punishment" is that the Pats' (and Belichick's) accomplishments this decade are tainted.

Oden out for season: I feel bad for him and for Blazers fans. Feels like Portland shoulda/coulda seen this coming. I don't buy the "love he's such a good person" stuff from the GM.

The one bright side: Even if totally healthy, Oden was never going to lead Portland to the playoffs next year; instead, they'll collect another top Lottery pick -- that new frosh-phenom PG from Memphis would look awfully good in a Blazers uniform lined up with Roy in the backcourt.

Oh, and you can engrave that NBA ROY trophy now: Durant.

Now, on to today:

Yankees top Red Sox: Meh. Does anyone really care?

Cubs beat Cards: Any coincidence the Cards' free-fall timed with the Ankiel scandal?

Tiger shoots another 63, with some 20-something front 9.

USA Women's soccer wins: Wambach!

I'm late, but still: Noel Devine. Whoa.

O.J.: Heh.

College Football Today: While I'm in the Swamp for Florida-Tennessee, we're debating whether to tape Ohio State-Washington (my most intriguing game of the day) or Arkansas-Alabama (most intriguing SEC game of the day). Michigan-Notre Dame wasn't even considered; it's a punchline. (BTW: I'll be on the right side of your TV screen, down near the field by the 5-yard line. Apparently, it's a spot to get seen by TV cameras. We'll see.)

Last night: Wow, is there a more disappointing team than Oklahoma State? Routed by Troy last night. (Troy had been battle-tested with losses at Arkansas and at Florida.)

And no, I have not seen Tim Tebow in person (yet) this week, but I may have a sighting of EDSBS' Orson Swindle and/or SportsLine's Clay Travis.

Week 2 NFL Picks

Note: No posts on Thursday and Friday this week. In advance of Sunday, however, here are Week 2 NFL picks. Have a great rest of your work week everyone!

Bengals over at Browns
Colts over at Titans
Rams over 49ers
Packers over at Giants
Steelers over Bills
Saints over at Bucs
Texans over at Panthers
Jags over Falcons
Lions over Vikings
Cowboys over at Dolphins
Seahawks over at Cards
Bears over Chiefs
Broncos over Raiders
Ravens over Jets
Pats over Chargers
Eagles over Redskins
Last week: 12-4

CFB Preview and Picks

Note: There will be no posts on Thursday and Friday this week. Have a great rest of your work week, everyone.

I think there's clearly a Top Game this weekend: No. 10 Ohio State at unranked Washington, which is off to one of "Those Years" type of starts under third-year coach Tyrone Willingham.

It goes without saying that the juxtaposition of Willingham beating a Top 10 team to run UW's record to 3-0 with Charlie Weis losing to Michigan to run Notre Dame's record to 0-3 would be insane.

I'm not saying that will happen, but merely for the POTENTIAL for that to happen makes this OSU-UW game a must-track. (That, and to see first-hand whether this RS freshman QB Jake Locker is the real deal.)

There are a couple other must-track games this weekend: Georgia Tech-BC, Florida-Tennessee, Arkansas-Alabama, Louisville-Kentucky. (Note: I don't include Michigan-Notre Dame.)

More questions:

*Will USC be derailed at Nebraska?

*Is Florida (finally) exposed as overrated vs. the Vols?

*Could Andre Woodson be even better than Brian Brohm?

*Is Georgia Tech-BC the de facto ACC Championship game?

*Is a home game vs. McFadden a must-win for Saban?

*Who drops to 0-3: Michigack or Notre Done?

This Week's Picks:
West Virginia (3) over at Maryland (Thu.)

USC (1) over at Nebraska (14)

LSU (2) over Middle Tennessee

Oklahoma (3) over Utah St.

Florida (5) over Tennessee (22) (DS IN-PERSON)

Texas (6) over at Central Florida

Cal (8) over LA Tech

Louisville (9) over at Kentucky

Washington over Ohio St (10) (UPSET SPECIAL)

UCLA (11) over at Utah

Penn St (12) over Buffalo

Rutgers (13) over Norfolk St

Georgia Tech (15) over BC (21) (GAME OF WEEK 2)

Arkansas (16) over at Alabama (Hmm...)

South Carolina (17) over S. Carolina St

Oregon (19) over Fresno St

Clemson (20) over Furman

Georgia (23) over W. Carolina

Hawaii (24) over at UNLV

Texas A&M (25) over LA-Monroe

BONUS: Michigan (UR) over Notre Dame (UR)

-- D.S.

Call Belichick, Pats What They Are: Cheaters

Wednesday Quickie directly below (or click here).

The Patriots are cheaters: Please stop using the phrase "violated league rules." The less formal, more accurate way of saying that is: "Cheated."

Cheaters. Yikes. Worst word in sports?

I'm surprised. It's a little like learning your favorite home run hitter uses steroids. Mainly: Why would a team as smart and well-run as the Patriots even NEED to cheat like this?

It remains to be seen whether this was some sort of chronic, recurring theme for the Pats – or even something that "every" team does, but simply never gets caught. Or something epidemic within the Pats organization, specifically.

Given the NFL's CIA-like Security department, you'd think they could go to the original NFL Films game tape and easily spot whether the Pats had employed this type of cheating in other games... say, in any of their Super Bowl victories that came down to a single play, in which stealing signs might have been the difference between winning and losing titles.

I'm not saying the Pats cheated to win their titles, but it certainly calls into question whether everything was on the level when they did. It's at least worth looking at the game tape, isn't it? (Or, Pats fans, are you afraid to see what you'll find?)

After all, if they're willing to brazenly cheat in Week 1, what lengths might a cheater go to to win in a championship game?

(Update: As you'd expect, rival coaches and execs from across the league are coming forward to talk about how this has been a Belichick tactic for years. Hmmm...)

The second-biggest question is: What type of punishment should they receive from the league for cheating? Consider that Roger Goodell has made "Get Tough" his mantra on the players who cheat. What kind of signal would it send if he didn't severely punish the teams who cheat?

The phrase being thrown around is "loss of multiple draft picks." I'm OK with that. But what does that mean? Are we talking about next year's first-rounder here? Second-rounder? Spread over multiple years?

If the punishment is too severe, Goodell is effectively punishing one of the men who employ him (Robert Kraft). If the punishment is too lenient, he makes the cost-benefit of cheating more appealing. This is a far tougher tightrope than the simple "player conduct" or "PED-related" suspensions. (As PFT pointed out: If Wade Wilson was suspended multiple games for using PEDS, what should a cheating head coach get?)

Finally, the usual question in any scandal: "What did Bill Belichick know and when did he know it?"

Given the particularly high level of control Belichick asserts over his team's operations, it seems unrealistic that this was the work of some rogue lackey. (It's the "A Few Good Men" scenario: It would be as if Kiefer Sutherland executed the "Code Red" himself, without Jack Nicholson's original command.)

Belichick's role is the most unseemly aspect of this entire cheating episode. In terms of potential punishments – and given his likely level of control over the cheating operation – a suspension shouldn't be out of the question.

The bottom line is that the entire episode calls into question the NFL's great dynasty of the last decade -- and arguably the greatest coach of all time. Again: Yikes.

But let's please call it what it is: Cheating. And it looks like not just cheating in one instance, but cheating as a recurring and preferred game tactic.

For Belichick, for the NFL and for Pats fans, I think this story gets a lot worse before it gets better.

-- D.S.

Wednesday 09/12 A.M. Quickie:Pats, Russell, Peavy, WVU, More!

Today's Names to Know: Bill Belichick vs. Roger Goodell, Kevin Everett, JaMarcus Russell, Jake Peavy, Pat White and Steve Slaton.

Please note: There will be no updates on the blog on Thursday or Friday and comments will be locked. The weekly CFB picks post and the NFL Week 2 picks post will be posted later today. Posts will return on Saturday.

I had started to write a lead item about the Patriots' cheating, but it got so big that I'm breaking it out into its own post, which is posted above.

Kevin Everett's recovery to the point where he might walk again would be the best news of the young NFL season.

JaMarcus Russell signs richest rookie deal ever: Was it worth the wait? Was he worth the dollars? We'll see... in 2008 and beyond.

NFL Trade: Seahawks get QB Charlie Frye for6th-round draft pick. Meh.

Speaking of QBs, who is bullish on Kellen Clemens?

MLB Stud, Player: Jake Peavy, who won his NL-best 17th. Presumptive NL Cy winner?

MLB Stud, Team: Brewers, who used more power (Prince Fielder: HR No. 44) to take the lead in the NL Central.

Kudos to MLB on a cool playoff twist: The AL team with the best record will have its choice of playoff format in the ALDS.

Up to one hour after the top team's final regular season game, it will have the chance to decide whether it wants to start its playoff series on Oct. 3 or Oct. 4. Starting the series on 10/3 means the chance of only one back-to-back series in 8 days; starting the series on 10/4 would mean 5 games in 7 days. Not unsubstantial as an incentive. "This Time It Counts," for real.

CFB Tonight: West Virginia at Maryland. Should be a primetime showcase for WVU's insanely good offense, led by Heisman co-contenders Pat White and Steve Slaton, who I would rank (as a tandem) just below Brian Brohm and Ray Rice. All four from the Big East, it should be noted. Pick: WVU.

More CFB: Michigan QB Chad Henne won't just miss the Notre Dame game, but could miss a few more weeks after that. Here's a prediction: Ryan Mallett takes over the job and Henne gets Pipped. (Would any other unranked team get this kind of attention? I think not.)

NBA Rumormania: The Suns were apparently prepared to trade Shawn Marion for Andrei Kirilenko, who is expensive but not as pricey as the Matrix. I think playing on the Suns would have revitalized AK-47's career.

College Hoops: Ken Pomeroy is teaming up with Baseball Prospectus to give BP-style treatment to college hoops. Huzzah! "KenPom" will work with the great John "Big Ten Wonk" Gasaway on season preview content, too. (h/t: MDS at Fanhouse)

-- D.S.

Tuesday 09/11 A.M. Quickie:MNFx2, JaMarcus, Eli, Pats Cheating, Links, More!

The first Monday after the first Sunday of NFL season should be recognized as some kind of national holiday. (Forget the official Thursday night opening game.) Because there is SO much to talk about:

Sunday's NFL results are king, of course. That's what changes everything. But then you layer in college football and MLB in mid-September, and it feels like the "new year" has begun. Happy new year.

49ers edge Cards, and it wasn't pretty: For the Niners, it was ugly, but one of those things where you simply say "1-0," and you're one step closer to the playoffs. For the Cards, you simply regret letting this easily winnable game go.

Bengals beat Ravens 27-20: You could say the story was, as usual, Chad Johnson's TD celebrations (see below), but the real story was Cincinnati's defense, which racked up 6 takeaways. A consistently great D combined with that explosive offense makes the Bengals an early Team to Watch.

Chad Johnson Celebration Watch: His Hall of Fame "20??" jacket was pretty inspired, but it took him way too long to get it together. When the first time you watch a TD celebration is on replay 60 seconds after the fact, it just doesn't have the same impact.

Pats spying on Jets, busted as cheaters: OK, this is the weirdest story of the new NFL season – did the Pats cheat by using video equipment to tape Jets coaches on the other sideline? What would be the point: Does the Genius really need that kind of illegal intel? (Not with Moss he doesn't.)

I'm sure the league reprimand won't be much, but it's pretty skeevy to think that the best team in the league thinks it has to cheat to find an advantage.

Actually, what's skeevier is that you know this wasn't some unique case; this was simply the first time the Pats were CAUGHT. It is improbable that this was the first time they had done this. (In fact, they apparently were caught – but not busted by the league – doing the same thing against the Packers last season.)

Eli Manning out: The team is saying he "might" not play against Green Bay this week; other sources put him out for a month. Who's right? I certainly wouldn't trust the team. So, uh, who's picking up Jared Lorenzen for their fantasy roster next week?

Kevin Everett is going to be paralyzed: And what was otherwise a wonderful start to the season is hit with a terrible tragedy labeled as "catastrophic." His chances of a full recovery are listed as "dismal." Thoughts and prayers for Everett and his family.

Is JaMarcus Russell ready to sign? Yes? Great: It'll only take him another half-season to be in a position to contribute. Good thing the Raiders have nothing to do this season except get ready for next year's draft (ironically, stocked with exceptional QBs).

Speaking of rookie QBs: Is Brady Quinn going to start next week? He can't possibly be worse than Charlie Frye was in Week 1.

Fantasy Football: A few thoughts after Week 1. First, being in multiple leagues kind of sucks the fun out of fantasy, because you have so many players and so many add/drop/waivers to manage. You really have to work on compartmentalizing each.

Second, last season (in just one league), I was one of those saps who had the third-highest point total in the league, yet missed the playoffs. Flip-flop this year. Reminder: There's no shame in winning the week with the lowest point total in your league.

(Oh, and Vernon Davis SUCKS. Over all my teams, he's probably the player I repeatedly picked. Cost me at least one win. Probably more. This is my second year of owning him, and I dealt with the injury last year after making him a high TE pick. You'd think I'd learn!)

More: So, who is the hottest pick-up in fantasy football? Brady Quinn at QB? Dedrick Ward at RB? Drew Carter at WR? Bengals D? Man, is there ANYONE left on the waiver wire these days? I guess it all depends on injuries (like Ward, who might get Jacobs' touches).

NFL Must-Read: MJD's Smorgasbord returns to Deadspin.

And here's a second must-read from Deadspin (which had an epic day yesterday, in terms of guest-posting): Friend of DS.com Stefan Fatsis on Jason Elam's game-winning kick.

Speaking of Deadspin guest-posts, did you catch my weekly college football post? Here it is.

(And here's Hirshey's on soccer.)

Lloyd Carr Watch: I have a new name to throw at you for a potential Michigan head-coaching candidate: Norm Chow. Sure, he's never been a head coach before, but he's a winner, an offensive genius and he's got NFL cachet, too.

On all things Michigan, I defer to MGoBlog's Brian Cook. He is pimping Jeff Tedford, whose track record at Cal can continue Michigan's storied tradition of developing seemingly good NFL QB prospects that end up being merely mediocre (aside from Tom Brady). Oh, and wouldn't Michigan fans be worried about a coach who annually can't win his "Big Game" (and I'm not talking about THE "Big Game" -- Stanford -- I'm talking about the "Big Game" vs. USC).

Meanwhile, Chad Henne's injured leg will keep him out of next week's game (if not longer). Maybe that's for the best, given the team's start. True frosh replacement Ryan Mallett is the new hotness.

More CFB Injuries: Let's stick with key injuries to RANKED teams. Florida is in trouble: Leading playmaker Andre Caldwell is out for the Tennessee game with a knee injury. This is bad. Sure, the Gators have a ton of depth at the "playmaker" position, but Caldwell was by far the best of the bunch. (Witness his direct-snap 18-yard TD run last Saturday -- run directly in front of my seats. He's spectacular.) Yikes.

Hokies Watch: Even though Virginia Tech is finished as a national title contender (as predicted here... yes, I'll continue to flagellate myself over picking them to win the NC), I will continue to track their progress. Perhaps 11-1 with their only loss being at LSU is reasonable. Anyway, freshman sensation QB Tyrod Taylor is beginning his Era. He is going to get the start this weekend over the disappointing Sean Glennon. Good thing it's "only" against Ohio.

By the way, CFB fans, in addition to Every Day Should Be Saturday and Sunday Morning QB (and this little Deadspin column) every day, I hope you're reading the blog The Quad, by the college football staff of the New York Times, led by the inimitable Pete Thamel. It's the best/only must-read newspaper blog about college football. Thamel has his weekly "State of the Union" and caught my attention with this description of Washington's sensational redshirt freshman QB Jake Locker – "a faster version of Tim Tebow." I think he's right, and that's a scary thought for Ohio State. I'm picking the Huskies to continue their miracle season with a win over the Buckeyes in Seattle (made doubly sweet by a Notre Dame loss at Michigan). Anyway, here's the link.

MLB Stud: Scott Kazmir, who had 10 Ks in a Devil Rays win over the Red Sox. Got a great email from a reader yesterday insisting that the Devil Rays were a "buy-low" value for fans without allegiance (or for fans around the rest of the country who want an AL East team to feel good about). He's right. The new name and uniforms – the total rebranding of the team – will give them one window at making that case.

MLB 2008: The Red Sox and A's will open in Japan next season. So which team's fans will be screwed out of the home games?

Greg Oden to have exploratory knee surgery: Let this be the moment of foreshadowing when we realize his awesome potential was tempered by persistent knee problems for the rest of his career.

NBA Trade: Nuggets trade rebounding machine Reggie Evans to the Sixers for... well, basically cap relief.

Women's World Cup: So much for Team USA's dominance. They tied North Korea (of all teams) 2-2. (And they needed a goal in the 69th minute to do it!)

This is a woefully trite statement, but I can't believe it has been six years since 9/11. I was just starting my second year of business school in Boston, removed from my other life in New York City. Here's something I wrote in the following days for the business school's student newspaper.

-- D.S.