Hot Stove Roundup - Week 1

With the MLB season about a week-and-a-half in the past, its time to start taking a look at the offseason moves as teams try to improve for next season. Without further ado, here is the first installment of the weekly Hot Stove Roundup:

NFL Week 10 Preview

Jacksonville Jaguars @ NY Jets
Spread: Jets, -7
o/u: 40.5
With both teams at 4-4, this game is a must-win for both teams to start the second half. The thing to remember about the Jags is they haven't played well on the road, and David Garrard especially. The key for them will be Maurice Jones-Drew's ability to run through a Jets D without Kris Jenkins. The Jets key, then, will be to swarm MJD, and not let him break big plays on them. Even if he does, the Jags defense is terrible, and Mark Sanchez should have all day to find open receivers when he needs to. This game could easily go the way of the Jets-Raiders game of a few weeks ago.
Pick: Jets 28 - Jaguars 17

Saturday Morning News - 11/14/09

Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler has been fined $20,000 for abuse of an official during their loss to Arizona last week. [UPI]

Arkansas's Rotnei Clarke set an SEC record with 13 3-pointers in a 130-68 win over Alcorn State. He also broke the teams scoring record with 51 points. [Times Record Online]

Washington Capitals RW Mike Knuble is expected to miss 3-4 weeks after breaking a finger in a 3-1 win over New Jersey. [Washington Post]

Ron Hornaday has clinched the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title, his fourth. At 51 years old, he is the oldest driver to win a NASCAR series championship. [TSN]

David Duval Probable to Lose PGA Tour Card

Duval, who was ranked #1 in April of 1999, will most likely lose his Tour Card at the conclusion of this weekends tournament. From ESPN:

Former world No. 1 David Duval is likely to lose his PGA Tour card next year after missing the cut at the Children's Miracle Network Classic.

Duval finished at 5-over par at Disney World on Friday in the final event of the season.

So really, how much does it have to suck to lose your Tour Card at an event sponsored by the Children's Miracle Network, and held at Disney World? Though he came in second at the US Open earlier this year, his lone major win came at the 2001 Open Championship(aka the British Open). He also only has 13 PGA Tour wins, all coming from 1997 to 2001.

And next year: Back to Q School.

College Football Week 11 - Important Matchups

1 Florida @ South Carolina
Favorite: Florida, -17
With Florida already knowing they'll play Alabama in the SEC title game, it would be easy for them to lose focus. Add to that their recent struggles on offense, and this could easily turn into the upset of the weekend, if not the season. SEC title or not, with five undefeated teams behind them in the standings, Florida needs to keep winning. Lucky for them that South Carolina's defense has struggle over the last two weeks, losing to Tennessee and Arkansas, and giving up 30 points to both. Florida might not put up 40+ points in this one, but they'll still pull out the win.
Pick: Florida 31 - South Carolina 17

10 Iowa @ 11 Ohio State
Favorite: Ohio State, -17
Iowa finally lost last week, and with the way they've been playing it was only a matter of time. Ohio State has an ugly loss to Purdue on their record, but has already shaken it off. In the three games since that loss, they've outscored opponents 107-14, including a 24-7 win over Penn State last week. With this game deciding the Big Ten champion, Ohio State simply looks like the better, and better prepared, team.
Pick: Ohio State 24 - Iowa 10

16 Utah @ 4 TCU
Favorite: TCU, -20
The way it stands now, TCU needs to win out, and have Texas lose a game, to have a shot at the BCS National Championship. This week they face a Utah team that knows all too well what it feels like to go undefeated and not play for the title, as they were in this position last year. If you take out Utah's loss to Oregon, these two teams have combined to allow more than 20 points and score less than 20 points only once, both by TCU. They might have a great team this year, but I think this is the week TCU gets taken out of the title picture.
Pick: Utah 24 - TCU 17

25 West Virginia @ 5 Cincinnati
Favorite: Cincinnati, -8.5
Tony Pike may not be getting the start again this week, but clearly Cincy hasn't missed a beat without him. And somehow, over the same four game stretch, its been West Virginia's offense thats struggled. They've gone from 33.8 points per game in their first five to 22 in their last four. Cincinnati's offense has played consistently well, and hasn't scored less than 28 points all season. I don't see any reason why that will change now.
Pick: Cincinnati 38 - West Virginia 17

Friday Morning News - 11/13/09

Silver Slugger Awards: 8 first timers, 8 repeat winners [MLB.com]

Retired closer and current Seattle Mariners coach John Wetteland was hospitalized yesterday, with conflicting reports as to why. [Seattle Times]

Tennessee Titans WR Justin Gage has multiple fractures in his back and it is currently unknown if he will miss significant playing time. [Titans Radio]

Cincinnati Bengals WR Chad Ochocinco has been fined for joking about bribing officials during and after their win over Baltimore on Sunday. [The Huddle]

Four players and coaches have received fines for a sideline "scuffle" during the Falcons-Redskins game. [NFL.com]

The New Orleans Hornets fired their head coach, Byron Scott, after a 3-6 start to the season. He will be replaced by GM Jeff Bower. [ESPN]

Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue has been appointed to head an independent panel to examine the USOC's governance structure. [NY Times]

Thursday Night Special - Bears @ 49ers

Chicago Bears @ San Francisco 49ers
Spread: 49ers, -3
o/u: 43.5
The first Thursday Night game of the season features two teams that look a lot alike: both have a QB that can cause turnovers, and both have a defense that isn't living up to expectations lately. The bigger problem will be for the Bears, who have to figure out how to stop Frank Gore. They're giving up 119.5 rushing yards per game, and against a guy that will just keep going at you, that isn't gonna do it. With both teams on a short week, I wouldn't be surprised to see a mistake filled game from both teams, but as long as Gore can keep running, the '9ers will be fine.
Pick: 49ers 24 - Bears 17

Thursday Morning News - 11/12/09

NL Gold Glove Winners: P Adam Wainwright(STL), C Yadier Molina(STL), 1B Adrian Gonzalez(SD), 2B Orlando Hudson(LAD), 3B Ryan Zimmerman(WAS), SS Jimmy Rollins(PHI), OF Shane Victorino(PHI), OF Michael Bourn(HOU), OF Matt Kemp(LAD) [MLB.com]

Jim Riggleman is getting promoted from interim manager to permanent manager of the Washington Nationals. [Nationals Journal]

Bad news for Eagles fans: CB Ellis Hobbs will miss the rest of the season with a neck injury that will require surgery, and CB Joselio Hanson is suspended 4 games for violating the NFL PED policy. [Philly.com]

The NHL is moving closer to a ban on blindside hits. [London Free Press]

Retired boxer Mike Tyson was detained by police after allegedly hitting a photographer at LAX. [Miami Herald]

Wednesday Morning News - 10/11/09

AL Gold Glove Winners: P Mark Buehrle(CWS), C Joe Mauer(MIN), 1B Mark Teixeira(NYY), 2B Placido Polanco(DET), 3B Evan Longoria(TB), SS Derek Jeter(NYY), OF Torii Hunter(LAA), OF Adam Jones(BAL), OF Ichiro Suzuki(SEA) [MLB.com]

Basbeball's general managers decided not to hold a vote on the expansion of instant replay. [Chicago Breaking Sports]

Memphis Grizzlies C Hasheem Thabeet broke his jaw in a collision with teammate Zach Randolph during last night's loss to Portland. [NBC Connecticut]

Illinois' Jeff Jordan, oldest son of Michael, has been suspended 2 games for playing in an unsanctioned event over the summer. [USA Today]

The University of Arkansas has handed out suspensions to five players. Glenn Bryant will miss 2 games, Marcus Britt will miss 6, Nick Mason will miss the entire fall semester, and Stefan Walsh and Courtney Fortson are out indefinitely, all for violating team rules. [Fayetteville Flyer]

German goalkeeper Robert Enke has died. His death is believed to have been a suicide. [Examiner]

Joe Cada is now the youngest person to win the World Series of Poker Main Event. [OnlinePoker.net]

NFL Week 9 Wrap-up

With every team having played 8 games, here's some midseason awards!

MVP:
Peyton Manning
With his Colts once again 8-0, Manning is the leader at the half-way point. His closest competition is Drew Brees, but Manning has a better completion percentage, more yards, and two less picks. I'm thinking Brees might win this at the end of the season, but Manning has a slim lead after 8 games.
Honorable Mention: Drew Brees, Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew

Tuesday Morning News - 11/10/09

Larry Johnson has been released by the Kansas City Chiefs following his two week suspension. [Bloomberg]

Oregon's LeGarrette Blount has been reinstated by the Pac-10, and will play this weekend against Arizona State. He had been originally suspended the full season for punching an opponent after Oregon's opening game loss to Boise State. [DuckSportsNews.com]

FSU's Chris Ponder will miss the rest of the season with a separated shoulder. [Augusta Free Press]

Minnesota Wild RW Petr Sykora will be out indefinitely after suffering a concussion against the Dallas Stars. [St Cloud Times]

Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim beat Albany to win his 800th game, all with the same school. [NYDN]

MNF Preview - Week 9

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Denver Broncos
Spread: Steelers, -3
o/u: 40.5
Lets look at the facts here: The Broncos are 3-0 at home. The Steelers are 1-2 on the road. The Broncos have the league's best defense. The Steelers are playing without S Ryan Clark, who could potentially die if he plays in Denver again. In his career, Broncos QB Kyle Orton has only lost TWO home games. Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is 1-2 against Denver. And yet, the Steelers are a 3 point favorite? I'm sorry, I'm taking Denver in this one.
Pick: Broncos 24 - Steelers 21

NFL Sunday Recap - Week 9

Sometimes a change is good. Sometimes, not so much:

Change You Can Belive In!:
Vince Young
Lets face it: the Tennessee Titans are not the team they were last year. Struggling doesn't even begin to describe their first six games, which saw them score 10 or less points three times and get blown out more often than not. Kerry Collins under center clearly wasn't the answer, as he never led a single game in passing yards, including Week 3 when Mark Sanchez led the game with 171 yards. Somehow, though, the Vince Young Experiment has turned this team around in the last two weeks without doing any better than Collins did. In fact, in the last two games, the Titans have scored only 20 points less than in the first six games combined, Young has thrown for 50 yards per game less than Collins was, and only has 1 TD pass. I don't know what Vince is doing down there, but he better keep doing it.

Monday Morning News - 11/9/09

Carolina Hurricanes G Cam Ward will miss at least a month after being hospitalized having his leg cut open by an opponents skate. [NHL.com]

Detroit Red Wings F Jason Williams is expected to miss at least 8 weeks with a broken right fibula. [Detroit Free Press]

Kurt Busch won the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Jimmy Johnson, who crashed in the third lap but finished the race, saw his points lead over Mark Martin drop to 73. [KansasCity.com]

MY 25 - Week 10

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. TCU
6. Cincinnati
7. Utah
8. Pitt
9. Houston
10. Iowa
11. Georgia Tech
12. Miami(FL)
13. Oregon
14. BYU
15. Arizona
16. Ohio State
17. Penn State
18. LSU
19. Wisconsin
20. USF
21. Rutgers
22. West Virginia
23. Oklahoma State
24. USC
25. Temple


Performance of the Week: Tennessee
With the season winding down, this is the time rebuilding teams need to step up and show they can be somebody next year. After a 1-2 start that had them losing to Florida and UCLA, Tennessee has crawled back to a 5-4 record. Whats been overlooked in an SEC that features unbeaten Florida and Alabama and one-loss LSU has been Tennessee's improvement under first-year head coach Lane Kiffin. Last weeks win over South Carolina and this weeks 56-28 blowout of Memphis are the kinds of statement wins a team needs to show they have a future. Even with their QB and starting back leaving after this year, Tennessee could become a powerhouse team again. After this season ends, a Tim Tebow-less SEC could leave the East open for Tennessee's taking.

The Sunday News - 11/8/09

Week 10 college football upsets: Northwestern 17 - No. 4 Iowa 10, Stanford 51 - No. 8 Oregon 42, Oregon State 31 - No. 20 Cal 14, Navy 23 - No. 22 Notre Dame 21 [ESPN]

Ty Law is coming out of retirment to sign with the Denver Broncos. [Denver Post]

Cal RB Jahvid Best suffered his second concussion in two weeks in the loss to Oregon State. [Sporting News]

Manny Ramirez has exercised his option to return to the LA Dodgers. [Reuters]

The Philadelphia Phillies picked up their option on Cliff Lee. [MLB.com]

The Milwaukee Brewers traded SS J.J. Hardy to the Minnesota Twins for CF Carlos Gomez. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

The Arizona Diamondbacks have picked up their option on Brandon Webb. [AZ Central]

Chicago Bulls F Tyrus Thomas is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a fractured right forearm. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Detroit Pistons F Tayshaun Prince is out indefinitely with a rupture disk in his lower back. [Detroit Free Press]

Memphis Grizzlies G allen Iverson has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the team to handle undisclosed personal issues. [NBA.com]

NY Islanders D Radek Martinek will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Also, one of the Islanders prospects, Bobby Hughes, has been arrested on sexual assault charges. [Examiner.com]

Phil Mickelson has won the WGC-HSBC Champions bye one stroke. [Golf Monthly]

Zenyatta remains undefeated in 14 starts, winning the Breeders' Cup Classic. She is the first mare to win the Classic, and is expected to be retired. [Chicago Tribune]