Week 8 Column: Red Sox, A-Rod, Belichick, Eagles, NBA & College Football

Why is it that I can have the same keychain for the last 20 years straight but my average length of time to lose a pair of sunglasses is 6.4 days?

Baseball is all over. The Red Sox, for the second time in 4 years, and the second time in the last 89 years, brought home the big prize. My 4 year old was happy as he informed me that the Boston Red Sox were his third favorite team. Of course, the New York Yankees are his second favorite team so I am not sure he has a fundamental picture yet of some of the 'do's' and 'don'ts' of sports fandom quite yet. On the flip side, he can tell you who #'s 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 45, 50, 51 are on the Phillies (and he says Adam Eaton sucks so no need to know #23), so that is pretty cool.

The Sawx were a very good team that got incredibly hot when their backs got up against the wall and won their last 7 straight! The unfortunate thing, if you are a Yankee fan, or that of any other team, is that Boston has a huge budget (second to the Yanks but somehow nobody complains about this...if there was a cap, they may not have been able to get past Theo Epstein's crappy moves over past few years) and a ton of young talent in Papelbon, Ellsbury, Pedroia, Bucholz, etc.

A-Fraud is a total scumbag as is his stupid agent who I have hated ever since the J.D. Drew debacle 10 years ago. It is amazing that they had so little respect for the game that they announced he was opting out of his contract during the clinching game of the World Series. I am sure Boars has illegally negotiated a deal for the worst hitter in the playoffs every year like he did last year for J.D. Drew (they are not Drew-ing, they're booing), but it would be tremendous if the purple lipped assface had to take a pay cut because nobody wanted to pay $30 mill for a guy who can't hit in the playoffs. And how could he have so little respect for his own team, who professed a desire to keep him and offer him a nice raise (making his package about $230 million over 8 years), that he would not even grant them a face to face meeting. I hope A-Rod tears his ACL, blows out his rotator cuff, goes blind, and continues to have millions around the country hate his guts. Even Peter Gammons, who never says a bad thing about anyone, blasted A-Rod for his impish behavior. If the Phillies are thinking about spending the money to bring A-Fraud here (which we all know they are too cheap to do), I urge them to leave the cancer for someone else and find some pitching!

Speaking of scumbags, Bill Belichick also has no respect for the game. How he con continue to go for it on 4th down when his team is up 20, 30, 40+ points is amazing to me. Some team needs to run a sweep and take out this guys knees.

However, Belichick has assembled just an amazing team. This team is so good that they are playing a road game against a 7-0 team who won the Super Bowl last year and they are favored by almost a touchdown. And, probably 90% of the betting dollars will be on the Patsies. What a great game this Sunday, we will get into more detail later in the week.

The Birds looked ordinary Sunday (which is a big improvement) and beat a subpar Minnesota team to run their record to 3-4, making the game at home Sunday night against Dallas and their really rich quarterback at least meaningful. McNabb, as he always does when he has people that can get open, looked great Sunday, with over 300 yards and no picks. The Birds even called a running play for $5, which has not happened this year yet, so he must be getting closer to fully healthy.

The NBA starts tonight. No, I am not even kidding. Who knew? Somewhere while awaiting sentencing, Timmy Donoaghy is trying to get some bets in. Unfortunately, the made for TV opener between Portland and San Antonio will not feature Greg Oden, who is out for the year. Kevin Durant will make his debut tomorrow.

The Sixers are being picked basically last in the conference by everybody. This actually surprises me, as this team finished the year playing hard and with fairly successful results after AI got traded. I predict the Sixers will vie for a playoff berth this year and be much better than people think.

Back to the gridiron, college football is setting themselves up for another controversial finish. How can there be a scenario in which there will not be teams snubbed when the BCS bids are announced? I am not sure why the NCAA and the college presidents will not adopt a playoff format. It will make more money and allow all the issues to be settled on the field, where they should be. It will mean more money for the NCAA and the schools, it will be better for the fans, and the argument that it is not good for the student athletes just does not hold water any more. College football is big business. Plus, their is a tournament in every other NCAA sport. Enough already.

The all time choke award goes to Virgina Tech, who shutout BC for 58 minutes only to give up 14 points and lose. At home. Just a terrible job by Beamer and his staff of keeping the kids focused for a full 60 minutes.

Joe Pa feel two wins behind Bowden (if you count Bowden's wins at Samford, which is 1-AA, not sure why they count) for most wins. Who will keel over first?

The best two teams in football are Oregon and LSU. If the BCS stayed as is and pitted Ohio St and Boston College, then the real championship would be if they could get LSU and Oregon to battle it out. Rose Bowl?

And for all you that hate hearing about Duke basketball all season long, the Blue Devils have their first exhibition on Thursday against Robert Brickey's Shaw University squad on Thursday. Look for the Devils to be better and deeper this year. Not sure they will be ready to challenge for a Final 4 berth, but they will be a player again on the National stage this year. Hopefully Brian Zoubek can travel less than 80% of the times he touches the ball this year and provide some post presence. That could be the only missing piece....