NFL Week 8 Preview

Miami Dolphins @ NY Jets
Spread: Jets, -3.5
o/u: 40.5
The Jets may be the favorite here, but they couldn't stop the Wildcat last time out, and I don't think things have improved. In fact, without Kris Jenkins, and with Bart Scott playing with knee problems, things look worse for the Jets. However, Calvin Pace showed last week he is completely comfortable in the new defense after missing the first four weeks. Having it come against the hapless Raiders really doesn't tell us much, though. Over the past few years, Jets in-division games have been high scoring and close, and I don't see any reason why this one won't be, too.
Pick: Dolphins 31 - Jets 27

Saturday Morning News - 10/31/09

South Florida upset 21 West Virginia, 30-19. [ESPN]

Detroit Red Wing Valtteri Filppula will miss 6-8 weeks with a broken wrist. [Detroit News]

Kentucky G John Wall will be eligible to play, provided he sits out the teams next regular season and exhibition game, and repays $800 used on unofficial school visits while in high school. [Rivals.com]

College Football Week 9 - Important Matchups

3 Texas @ 14 Oklahoma State
Favorite: Texas, -9
OSU may be undefeated in conference play, but that doesn't make them good. They lost to Houston in Week 2, and haven't really played against any tough competition. Meanwhile, Texas has been fully undefeated, and already beaten Oklahoma and Texas Tech. OSU will officially be without Dez Bryant, who was their best receiver at the time of his suspension. Their scoring has visibly fallen off since then. With the exception of the Oklahoma game, Texas's scoring has been high and fairly consistent.
Pick: Texas 38 - Oklahoma State 24

5 USC @ 10 Oregon
Favorite: USC, -3
Since their loss to Texas in the 2005 National Championship Game, USC has lost one game a year when headed north. The bad news for Oregon is that USC already lost that game, at Washington in Week 3. The good news is that USC has looked beatable at times this year, which is whats keeping the spread low. Oregon can also put big points on the board, which will keep the game close.
Pick: USC 45 - Oregon 38

22 South Carolina @ Tennessee
Favorite: Tennessee, -6
Tennessee may be unranked, with a 3-4 record, but they've played well against tought opponents. In comparing their games against Alabama, both teams struggled to put points up, as SC managed 6, but Tennessee almost pulled out the win with 10. This will be a defensive battle, and will probably come down to who wins the turnover battle. Right now, SC has the edge in that one.
Pick: South Carolina 20 - Tennessee 17

Washington State @ 23 Notre Dame
Favorite: Notre Dame, -28
This game is important for one reason and one reason only: Notre Dame, and Charlie Weis specifically, needs to prove themselves. They've been ranked before, and they should have an easy win this week. They need to put together a winning run, with a tough Navy team next week, followed by ranked Pitt. After destroying Nevada in Week 1, they've given up almost as many points as they've scored. Anything less than a blowout against a team thats scoring 15 ppg should be looked at as a disappointment.
Pick: Notre Dame 35 - Washington State 9

Friday Morning News - 10/30/09

The NY Yankees have won Game 2 to even the World Series at 1-1. [Pinstripe Prophets]

Yankee Derek Jeter has been awarded the Roberto Clemente Award, for excellence on and off the field. [MLB.com]

The Tennessee Titans have officially named their starting QB, and it will be Vince Young. [USA Today}

No. 14 Virginia Tech were upset by UNC, 20-17, on a last second field goal. [Baltimore Sun]

Driver AJ Almendinger has been placed on probation for the rest of the NASCAR season after being arrested and charged with a DWI. [SceneDaily.com]

Thursday Morning News - 10/29/09

The Philadelphia Phillies have won World Series Game 1, beating the Yankees 6-1. Philly P Cliff Lee bacame the first pitcher to have 10 Ks, 0 walks, and 0 earned runs in a World Series game. [FOX Sports]

Larry Johnson has officially been suspended until November 9. He is expected to appeal. [Reuters]

The Kansas Jayhawks are ranked #1 in the preseason ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. [ESPN]

JaMarcus Russell's Post Game Comments

From The Sacramento Bee:(the "second pick" is the Darrelle Revis interception in the end zone)

"The first interception was a matter of a guy coming across my face and getting to the spot," he said. "I tried to get it down but it was too late.

"As far as the second (pick), I thought I gave the guy a chance to make a play on the ball … had a 50-50 chance."

There is also a great video ESPN was showing of Russell making the following comments. They were showing it all day Monday, but I can't find it online anywhere. From bleacher report:

When asked at his locker what's been the biggest obstacle in his development, he replied: "Up and down. Up and down.”

Asked if he was referring to himself or the team he responded, “I don't think it's me, personally. I really don't. It's been a bad combination of one guy not doing something right one time, one guy another time.”

"Personally, I don't think so. Do you?" Russell added after a pause.

The video actually has the reporter stammering for an answer, shocked at what he just heard. Russell then gives a cocky laugh and smile, and says "I didn't think so."

A friend of a friend is a Raiders fan, and a couple of weeks ago he had said Russell was just there to collect a paycheck. I disagreed, because it looked like he was trying to improve himself, but couldn't. I blamed the coaches and team dysfunction. But after this, its clear Russell thinks hes Steve young, but plays like Akili Smith. Whenever you get someone like that, it's hard to coach them, because they play their way and expect everyone else to work around that. Unfortunately, when the reality of their play doesn't live up to their perception of it, you get a player who can't improve, and only drags others down with him. Russell is clearly just collecting a paycheck, because he knows Al Davis won't let him go, and he actually thinks he's still worth the money hes being paid.

Also, theres this: Vote4JaMarcus.com

World Series Preview

NY Yankees vs Philadelphia Phillies
The oddsmakers put the Yankees as a decent favorite to win the Series. Looking at the lineups, it looks a lot more even than you might think. The Yankees this year hit the most home runs in the majors, and the Phillies were tied for second. With a stadium tailored for lefty batters, and Ryan Howard hitting from the left side, the Yankees don't have a significant home field advantage there. Overall, their lineups and pitching rotations are fairly even. But while one team may not have a big advantage over the other, the Yankees do have slightly better numbers this postseason. Their team ERA is almost half a point lower than the Phillies. And while the Phillies may have scored more runs, the Yankees have a higher team batting average. The problem has come with runners in scoring position, where the Yankees have struggled. But if they can continue to hit with a high average, the important hits will come, and the Yankees will win.
Pick: Yankees 4 - Phillies 2

Wednesday Morning News - 10/28/09

John W Lomax III has been arrested and charged with the murder of UConn CB Jasper Howard last week. Two other men were also arrested. [Daily Campus]

Kansas City Chief Larry Johnson has been asked to stay away from the team while an investigation is underway into his use of a gay slur on his Twitter account and in reference to reporters in the Chief's locker room. [NY Times]

Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant has been officially ruled ineligible for a full calendar year for lying to NCAA investigators. If he doesn't jump to the NFL, he would be eligible again on October 7, 2010. The school is expected to appeal. [News OK]

The Houston Astros have hired Brad Mills as their new manager. [Houston Chronicle]

NFL Week 7 Wrap-up

This week, some teams played proudly, while others embarrassed our country:

Proud to be an America!:
New England Patriots
New England was the away team in what is now the leagues yearly jaunt to Olde England. Thankfully, Tom Brady remembered how to play QB before this trip took place. I said in the preview of this game that jet lag was probably all that would stop the Pats this week, and it looks like I was right. Brady and the offense picked apart the Bucs, but Brady only had 308 yards and 3 TDs in this one.

Tuesday Morning News(Late Because I Had Things to Do This Morning Edition) - 10/27/09

NY Jet Braylon Edwards will be charged with assault in an incident in which he allegedly punched a part promoter. [NJ.com]

LA Clipper Blake Griffin could miss up to six weeks with a broken kneecap. [Bloomberg]

Boston Celtic Glen "Big Baby" Davis will be out indefinitely after braking his thumb in an altercation with a former LSU teammate. [ESPN Boston]

Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin and Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen have been publicly reprimanded by the SEC for comments about made about officiating in their games against Alabama and Florida. [Campus Rivalry]

Brock Lesnar has withdrawn from his title defense against Shane Carwin due to a prolonged, undisclosed illness. The fight is believed to have been rescheduled for UFC 108 in January. [The Examiner]

MNF Preview - Week 7

Philadelphia Eagles @ Washington Redskins
Spread: Eagles, -8
o/u: 37.5
It seems like every year the Eagles have a game where they completely melt down, and everyone thinks Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb should be run out of town. Last week was that week. Now they can get back to winning. This week, they take on the Redskins as the first Redskins opponent with a win. This is the first week Sherman Lewis will be calling the plays, and the plays will be relayed through another assistant Jason Campbell, because Lewis doesn't know the calls for motion and blitz pick-up. I can't imagine thats going to be a good thing. I'd hope they've practiced doing that, but the Redskins will probably finish the game with way too many delay of game penalties.
Pick: Eagles 35 - Redskins 10

NFL Sunday Recap - Week 7

ESPN is calling this Beatdown Sunday. Heres why:

The Four Biggest Beatdowns:
4. San Diego Chargers 31 - Kansas City Chiefs 7
This could go down as the week the Chargers woke up. Slow starters over the past few years, they are again off to a bad start at 2-3 before this week. Looking at the stats, though, its hard to think so. The Chargers are a team built on a solid defense and LT running the ball. Tomlinson had only 71 yards and no TD. Their defense had 3 INTs, which is good considering Matt Cassel hadn't thrown one in the last four games. Only 3 sacks and over 100 rushing yards given up is a bit troubling, though. What this game really highlights is how bad the Chiefs are. Their defensive stats are all zeroes, and Cassel could only manage 10/25 for 97 yards. The Cheifs are still rebuilding, and it looks like they need to tear things down to the foundation before they'll be good again.

Monday Morning News - 10/26/09

The NY Yankees have won the AL pennant, winning their series with the LA Angels 4-2. CC Sabathia was named ALCS MVP.[MLB.com]

Manny Acta has been picked to mangage the Cleveland Indians. [Cleveland.com]

Along with mangaer Tony La Russa returning, the St Louis Cardinals are expected to announce Mark McQwire will join him as the teams htiing coach. [USA Today]

Oklahoma's Sam Bradford will have season-ending surgery on his throwing shoulder, and is expected to enter the NFL Draft. [NY Times]

Denny Hamlin won the TUMS Fast Relief 500. Jimmy Johnson extended his Chase for the Cup points lead to 118 over Mark Martin. [Examiner.com]

MY 25 - Week 8

There is probably nothing in sports I disagree with more than the BCS and college football poll system. With that in mind, each week I'll be naming my own Top 25. The only hard and fast rule of MY 25: overall records come first.

1. Texas
2. Alabama
3. Boise St
4. Florida
5. Cincinnati
6. Iowa
7. TCU
8. Oregon
9. Oklahoma State
10. Penn State
11. Houston
12. Pitt
13. LSU
14. USC
15. West Virginia
16. Utah
17. Central Michigan
18. Georgia Tech
19. Miami(FL)
20. Virginia Tech
21. BYU
22. Kansas
23. South Carolina
24. Rutgers
25. Arizona


Performance of the Week: Nevada
Nevada spent the start of the season not living up to expectations. They started off 0-3, and were blanked in Week 1 by Notre Dame. They exploded for 63 points in Week 4, but it came against a UNLV team that was 2-2 and giving up points. But playing one-loss Idaho, QB Colin Kapernick showed why some thought he might be in the Heisman running this year. He accounted for 408 yards of total offense, 178 throwing, 230 rushing, and 6 TDs, four of them on rushes of 11, 35, 61, and 75 yards. As a team, the Wolf Pack ran the ball for 484 yards and 8 TDs, including an 89 yarder by Vai Taua. The win is the fourth straight for Nevada, moving them to 4-3, 3-0 in their division.

The Sunday News - 10/25/09

UFC 104 results: Lyoto Machida beat Mauricio Hua by unanimous decision, Cain Velasquez stopped Ben Rothwell in the second round, Anthony Johnson scored a knockout over Yushiyuki Yoshida in the first round [The Sun]

Carolina Hurricanes forward Tuomo Ruutu has been suspended 3 games for a viscious baording penalty on Colorado Avalanche Darcy Tucker that left him hospitalized with a concussion. [Sporting News]

All seven undefeated FCS schools won yesterday.