Darth Belichick

When he's wearing the hoodie. He's been so successful of late. Anyone else see the resemblance to some sort of Sith Lord?

Blue Jays

Do the Blue Jays need another third baseman? That being said, they got a sweet deal, getting a top SS prospect for Orlando Hudson and Miguel Bautista.

Akers

David Akers overacts. Badly. But we all knew that, right?

QBs

OK, McMahon really blows. I want to see Andy Hall next week against the 'skins.

Damon

Yes, that lineup is disgusting. But Damon to New York will only work if he's able to bring some chemistry to that team. They've failed the last few years because they were a bunch of mercenaries with nothing to draw them together. If Damon can bring them together, light a few fires, then they might go somewhere.

Of course, they still need pitching.

It's Time

Hang it up Brett, you have nothing more to accomplish in this league other than tarnishing your reputation. You're still an okay quarterback, but you were a great quarterback, and there's no reason to be remembered for playing an additional season to be lousy.

Shootout!

That was a sick move by Afinogenov to beat Nitty for the win. Sick. He deked backhand, and drew it all the way across to the forehand and went to the side and put it over a flailing right pad. Nitty had no chance.

MNF Intros

Packers offense did nothing special. Nice professionalism.

1 guy from the Ravens D did the elementary school thing. Terrell Suggs doing the Snoop imitation was no good, no good at all.

I missed the other half of introductions, I was doing laundry or watching the Flyers, or maybe they didn't show them.

TV

How long have they been running that 'Holiday Five Pack' Heineken commercial? It's got to be something like five years now.

Orton

Somewhere, watching this football game, is a dog holding his paws over his mouth and laughing every time Kyle Orton throws a football and it flops to the ground uncaught.

Sunday Night

Prediction: Bears. Michael Vick doesn't look comfortable, and if he puts the big heavy jacket on between possessions, he's doomed.

And oh my, they showed a clip from the Super Bowl shuffle ('85 Bears) during the intro. Why does that exist? Why does that still exist?

13-1

Well, the Colts run ends. I can't say I'm surprised. But it's no surprise, given the way the game started. The Colts are so explosive that they tend to score a lot quickly, and the other team is forced to play catch up. Shut them down early and build a lead of your own, and you can do what ever you want on offense. And this exposes the Colts defense, which is how to win the game. But if you feel you have to throw the ball to stay in the game, you'll dig yourself into a bigger hole. Stay with the run and you can stay with Colts, as long as your defense can slow them down.

And the Pats and Steelers looked pretty good this week, but I'm not sure they can beat the Colts in Indy.

Phodder

Apparently, the Phils are moving the fences back a smidge in left field. We'll see if it helps. 174 seats @ $22 per seat = $3,828 per game and $310,068 for the season. Totally worth it if it wins 'em a few games.

I really like the Aaron Fultz season. He had a good season last year and, while he's nothing special, he's not a bad arm to have in the pen.

I don't approve of moving Madsen to the rotation. Sure - maybe he'll be something special. But I think any talk of moving Madsen out of the pen means that they aren't going to go get a number 1 starter, which is a huge mistake. To compete in the division, they need a strong rotation. This rotation isn't a strength, not right now anyway.

Padilla

I'm not sure I understand the Padilla trade. The potential players to be named later (on phillies.com) don't seem like anything special. And Padilla is a serviceable major league pitcher. I guess it makes sense if you're still going to bring in an ace (Lieber is 2, Myers is 3, Lidle is 4, lots of options for 5), but I'd rather have Padilla as an option to replace Lidle or one of the kids in the 5 slot, or pitch him out of the bullpen.

I've always thought Lidle was the guy to trade, as he's more reliable and an innings eater (I'd rather have Padilla). Maybe he goes midseason when Wolf's timeline is a little more clear.

Anthem

I was at the Eagles - Giants game on Sunday. That had to be the worst rendition of the national anthem I'd ever heard. I understand that every amateur choir in the area wants to sing the anthem at a sporting event, but there are 81 baseball games and 40-some basketball and hockey games each season. Can't they find eight local recording artists to do the home football games each season? Lauren Hart and Mutlu would be good places to start, G-Love and Special Sauce would also fit the bill. Amos Lee and Leila Broussard would do the trick just fine. Hell, I'd have no problem with Will Smith doing it. But nothing more like Sunday, please.

Topology

I think the 'breaking the plane' rule is a dumb one. The rule, as it currently stands, is that the ball has to break the plane of the endzone and some part of the body has to pass to the inside of the pylon. As Vick just did, you can dive, completely out of bounds, to the endzone and just wave your arm over the pylon and it's a touchdown. That's dumb. I'm sorta ok with just getting the ball inside the pylon, I'd really prefer that you have to touchdown in the endzone. Just get a toe down. I much prefer the idea of the endzone as a 2-d structure, not a 3-d structure.

If you dive and land out of bounds, you're down on the 1.

MNF

Roddy White just introduced himself on MNF with his elementary school. I approve. Often times when guys try and be cutesy with this, it ends up sucking. Witness Dhani Jones's 'Mr. Jones Double-oh 55' last week. And 'The Ohio State University' is just annoying. It's cool to be different, but don't be dumb. A lot of guys mentioned their high schools, which is cool. Joe Horn's "Canadian Football League" was good. I'll try and keep this as a regular feature and rate what people say.

2006

I can say with pretty good confidence that the Eagles will have Atlanta, Carolina, Green Bay, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Tennessee, and San Francisco as the non-division games next year.

Scheduling

So one of the things about the NFL Schedule is that the worst teams are supposed to have the easiest schedules. How come the Texans and 49ers, the worst teams in each conference, have played the toughest schedules? Seattle and Indianapolis have played the easiest schedules. I guess it's warped by having each of those teams in the same division and playing the opposite division, so the Texans have played two against the Colts and also the Hawks, for example.

I just don't think this Seahawks team is super-good. They've played a cupcake of a schedule and struggled against the legitimate teams they've played. They lost to Jacksonville and Washington, and wins against Dallas, Jersey/A, and Atlanta were by three points each. And those five games are the five games where they've scored the fewest points.

Blue Jays

The effects of having two of the biggest spenders in the same division is that it makes it very hard for the other teams in that division to compete without also spending lots of money. Money that they may not necessarily have. Can the Blue Jays compete this year? They looked good for a while last year. But I suspect they're going to be losing money with the big contracts for Burnett and Ryan (and I'm guessing at least one of them is going to be a huge mistake, but I can't say for sure - my initial guess is Ryan).

Lis Franc

If the Lis Franc injury is so uncommon, how come four Eagles in the past few years have suffered one?

45

I'm fine with 'Flash' Gordon wearing 45 to honor Tug McGraw. But Tug's 45 should have been retired. At the latest, on opening day in 2004 after he died during the offseason. But it should have been done at some point in 2003, while he was still alive.

Marlins

This is absurd. Lo Duca to the Mets for prospects is the latest trade, and no signs of stopping. Let's see, they've now traded one of their top-three starters, their catcher, first baseman, second baseman, and third baseman. The center fielder is on the block. And they clearly don't care - trading their best players to team in their own division is just bad baseball.

This is the sort of thing that's bad for baseball. This team is just over 10 years old and still building a fan base. Dismantling the team like this twice in ten years doesn't lend itself to fan loyalty. I don't see MLB expanding any time soon, but they would do well to consider the potential loyalty of the fan base when granting teams. Both of the Florida expansion teams of the last 15 years, the Marlins and the Devil Rays, have struggled more often then not, and have struggled financially. The presence of minor league baseball and spring training in Florida probably weakens the potential fan base, as does the nature of the demographic.

For this reason, I think pro sports will fail miserably in Las Vegas. Are tourists really going to want to go to a baseball game? And if the game is marketed to the tourists, the locals won't want to go. Put a AAA team in Portland, and see how it does. If they can draw fans, then consider moving the Marlins there when the stadium lease is up.

But the sport could still use a salary cap. There's a clear difference between the teams that have and the teams that have not. Capping what teams can spend will give all teams a fighting chance to land the top-level free agents. I also think they should take a page from the new hockey deal, and have a payroll floor as well. Each team must spend a certain amount of money to put a competitive team on the field. This would certainly help.

Trick Play

Well that was cute. Broncos brought their backup quarterback into the game and lined Plummer up as a wide-out. Play was just a QB draw out of the shotgun, but confused the defense. Seven yards up the middle, touchdown Broncos.

Chad Johnson

I really liked the putt-putt celebration. For those who haven't seen it, Johnson scored a touchdown last week, grabbed the pylon from the corner of the endzone, and used it to putt the football. The NFL, unsurprisingly, wasn't amused, and fined Johnson $5,000.

I suspect that Johnson doesn't mind. He likes being the center of attention, he likes having people talk about him. But he does it by talking about himself and by getting it done on the field. It's all about him, all the time. His schtick about 'nobody can cover me' applies to everyone else on the field - no matter else who is out there, he's going to get the ball and score. And that's a much better attitude to have.