Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks

Here are the Ten Things for the week. These will be quick hitting thoughts. I did not have time to get in depth as I was busy this past weekend. Please pay close attention to Number 3 to see what in the sports world makes me Thankful. It seems every year around this time some hack will put together a list of what he/she is thankful for. I could get into a sappy list about how thankful I am for my family, friends and my two year old car Allie but no one would enjoy that sappiness. In that same vein I would appreciate if everyone were to send me an email with things in the Sports World that you are thankful. Do not forget your homework assignment and without further ado here is my list.

1. Georgia Bye

I am extremely excited for the match-up between UGA and Boise State that was announced last Friday. For starters UGA does not have to play a home and home with Louisville which is something they should have never signed up for to begin with. A trip to Louisville in 2012 is now replaced with a home game that UGA should easily win. The schedule will now read Buffalo at home, @ South Carolina, TBA at home, @ Alabama. Having the Tide as the third team in a three game road trip is not the way to begin Aaron Murray's junior season.

Furthermore, how smart is the new AD Greg McGarity? Not only is the Louisville series canceled but then there is this info. Boise State will be given 7,500 tickets and the rest of the allotted tickets, discounting those reserved for suite owners and local sales, will be given to Georgia. The number is yet to be determined, but Georgia could receive upwards of 50,000 tickets. Basically it turns into a UGA home game with the whole country watching. In addition, Louisville declined a request to mutually cancel the series, so the Chick-fil-A Bowl and ESPN agreed to pay a $600,000 series buyout to Louisville and helped arrange an alternative home-and-home series for the Cardinals against North Carolina.

Just a random thought if ESPN can make all of this happen, could they make a playoff happen if they truly wanted one?

Random Thought #2 This game will be played on the weekend of my birthday and you all are invited. Party In The ATL. Braves play at home against the Dodgers that weekend as well.


2. Colts-Pats Recap

Why are these games always so stressful to watch? Also who is James Sanders and why is he picking off Peyton Manning with less than a minute to play? Here is another crazy stat which helps prove the value of having just a decent rushing attack....Manning's 38 completions were his second most in a game, behind only the season-opening loss to Houston when he completed 40 passes. In the two games Manning has completed the most passes he has lost both of them. Not good, not good at all.

Since I interned with the Colts I am supposed to hate everything about the Pats but I am actually a huge Belichick fan and the win on Sunday lifted Bill Belichick into a tie for 11th place in coaching victories with 171, moving ahead of Hall of Famer Paul Brown and equaling Joe Gibbs. Those are unreal numbers.

3.Let's Give Thanks
Last year I gave my list of things that I am Thankful for in the sports world. I have copy and pasted last years list (#1-26) and I have updated a few more for this year.

JJ's Thankful List-It should be noted that this is not in any particular order
1. Sports Illustrated being delivered every Wednesday and their great cast of writers that include Tom Verducci, Jon Heyman, Seth Davis, Stewart Mandel, Joe Posnanski, Andy Staples and probably the best feature writer in the business S.L. Price.
2. I purposefully left off Peter King on the above because I am such a huge fan of his Monday Morning Quarterback and his concept of "Ten Things I Think I Think" are totally stolen by me.
3. Athens, Ga on a Saturday or any day that the football, basketball, baseball or any other team competes.
4. Wild Card Weekend, Divisional Weekend and Conference Championship Sunday in the NFL...does it get better than this?
5. USC Song Girls
6. Growing up in Georgia and listening to voices such as Larry Munson, Skip Caray, Ernie Johnson and Pete Van Wieren 'paint the picture' for my favorite teams.
7. NFL Sunday Ticket
8. The National Anthem before any contest and God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch. On a side note I love attending games with teams from Canada and hearing O' Canada. I still think our National Anthem is better.
9. Introductions before NBA Games. Two memorable intros that stand out to me include the Bulls intro from when they had it rolling in the late 90's. The second one that stands out is from the Los Angeles Lakers and the Staples Center. Just as an fyi, the Lakers intro is the coolest one I have scene in person (they drop a circular curtain from the rafters).
10. Friday Night Fireworks at Turner Field.
11. A Saturday watching college football at the MGM Grand followed by a Sunday at the Las Vegas Hilton
12.The College World Series, one of the best sporting events to attend in person in my opinion.
13. The fact I can remember watching baseball games in the following stadiums...Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Turner Field, Tropicana Stadium, RFK Stadium, Nationals Ballpark, Camden Yards, Citizens Bank Ballpark, Old Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Citi Field, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Great American Ballpark, Safeco Field, and PNC Park. Just a side note I saw a football game inside Dolphins Stadium and I do not know if that counts as I am not sure if I will make it a point to get to Miami to watch a baseball game before the Marlins open their new stadium in April 2012 on the site of the former Orange Bowl. On a side note how did I not talk my grandparents into making the 166 mile drive from their house in Melbourne, Fl to what was then known as Joe Robbie Stadium? Update: During 2010 I went on an awesome Baseball Trip and I can now add New Yankee Stadium to that list.
14. Dave O'Brien's Braves Beat Blog on ajc.com, I especially enjoy his spring training stories the best.
15. The positive things ESPN has given sports-SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, HD Programming,
16. March Madness and Bracketology
17. MLB Network
18. Leaving work right at 500 and going to watch batting practice by myself or select friends that really enjoy watching both teams put in some serious work.
19.Gate giveaways
20. All the college football bowl games between Christmas and New Years Day.
21. The Olympics
22. Bob Costas interviewing anyone
23. Sunday Night football on NBC. From Olbermann and DP with highlights to Dungy and Harrison with commentary. Do not forget Peter King with news from around the league and the game broadcast with Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth.
24. College football fight songs. USC still is #1 in this category.
25. Vern Lundquist and Gary Danielson doing SEC football on CBS.
26. Bill Raftery screaming any of the following; Onions! With a kiss! Man to Man! Strong... to the goal! A little pirouette, and they said this was a beer town! There's a little lingerie on the deck! When you're sleepless in Seattle, why not get a little kiss? (Start at the :55 second mark). Update: I would love to write a book where I follow Raftery around on the road for one season. From what I am told, the last to leave the bar and the first at the treadmill the next morning.

27. My cousin Gus Johnson- See the above video and here is a best of Gus Johnson.
28. Twitter and the instant access to sports information from athletes, fans and the press. Nothing better than watching an event and reading the tweets that come in from every writer giving their two cents.
29. Keeneland and the first ever horse race that I attended.
30. I am also thankful for Hoho Tow and Stitches N Needles finishing 1-2 in the 3rd race on the 4th Saturday in the 10th month. That combo paid $53.60 on a $2 bet.
31. The Dan Patrick Show on the 101 Network and now regional Fox Sports channels throughout the country. Nothing better than taking a day off of work and watching a radio show on a couch.
32. NFL Network pregame show with Rich Eisen, Marshall Faulk, Marucci, Warren Sapp and Michael Irvin. I am not a fan of Irvin the person but I absolutely love his passion for the game of football.


4. Braves Trade

What is there not to like about the Braves-Marlins trade from early last week?

Uggla's career line at Turner Field: .354/.399/.652 -- yes, that's his SLG, .652!
Uggla's 154 homers in past 5 seasons are second among NL right-handed hitters in that period, behind Albert Pujols.  

Uggla has averaged 31 home runs, 100 runs scored and 93 RBIs per season over his five-year career.  He has never been placed on the disabled list and has posted an average of 155 games played per season. 

 Last year Omar had .359 OBP Uggla had .369 OBP

5. Jacksonville Jaguars
Is anyone buying the first place Jags at this moment? There last two wins were miracles but as I like to say a win is a win is a win. They have now won three in a row and five of seven o stand at 6-4. With six games remaining they have to go on the road four times so the schedule maker plays them no favors down the stretch. Maybe it is a little early for Garrard to tweet...."Thanks peyton. U da man???" We can not forget that the Jags were 6-4 at the point last season to only finish 1-5.

I have to mention that former Statesboro High Blue Devil Jeremy Mincey had 2 of the Jags 6 sacks. I have heard some decent stories from Warren, Boots and Brice over the years about him. Did not know he was in the league.


6. Halftime
We will stick with the Live theme for this week's song that Smoak and myself used to rockout to while crusing the mean streets of Sylvania. Last week was Dolphins Cry, this week will be Lightning Crashes. The greatest kicker in Screven County history knew that Chipper Jones was the last Braves to hit a homerun in the World Series. It was against El Duque in 1999. Well done Donald, well done. Since it is Turkey Week we will ask a somewhat Turkey related question. What city hosts the oldest Thanksgiving parade? It is not New York.
 
7. College Power 5
1. Auburn-Can their secondary stop Julio Jones? Also, first major test on road as LSU, Clemson, UGA, South Carolina and Arkansas were at home this year. They did win at Miss St.
2. Oregon- In 1st 10 seasons of BCS, No. 1 team in this point of season made title game, last 2 have not (Ala in 08 & Fla in 09)
3. Boise St- They have won 10 games but only once did the opponent have a defense ranked in the top third (Top 40) in the nation in scoring D
4. TCU- Horned Frog defense has dominated three strong offenses Baylor (33 ppg), Air Force (32 ppg) and Utah (37 ppg) holding to 10, 7 and 7 points
5. LSU- Did anyone really think they would not win in a crazy game?

8. NFL Power 5
1. New England-Brady still needs a haircut. Hoody might be the best coach of all time.
2. Green Bay-How intriguing is this matchup Sunday? Packers at Falcons. On talk radio in Atlanta one host said the theme at the dome on Sunday would be "Cut the cheese" What does that mean?
3. Philly-Need to do more research but it seems like Mike Vick wins a lot of football games as a starter.
4. Atlanta-Despite best record in NFC they need to keep winning to make playoffs as the Saints and Bucs are right on their heels.
5.Baltimore- Who would have thought the matchup between Tampa and Baltimore would be intriguing at this point of the season.



9. An awesome concert


On Saturday night I had the opportunity to attend one of the better concerts I have ever attended in Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean. It was a star studded event as I went with an A-list crew from work. Furthermore, half of the Braves roster past and present was there as Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Tim Hudson, David Ross, Andruw Jones, Buddy Carlyle, Jeff Francoeur and Kelly Johnson took an awesome show. Furthermore Bobby Cox (who was rocking a sick argyle sweater) and his wife Pam sat in the front row, right next to Fredi Gonzalez. About halfway through the show they gave a Bobby Cox tribute as the place went bonkers as everyone started doing the Tomahawk chop. Very cool scene.

The song of the Night has to be Luke Bryan's new song You Don't Know Jack. The greatest kicker in Screven County history has promised to learn this song for the next time we get together and he plays the guitar. Whenever that happens next it will be a legendary time.

The first time I had ever heard of Luke Bryan I was living in NYC and my buddy Smoak emailed me and told me to look up some guy from Leesburg, Ga who went to Georgia Southern but always played in Milledgeville. So I do some research on him and this was before Youtube is what it is today and the first song I find is We Rode In Trucks. Needless to say I was hooked right away. Is it time for Smoak to become big time music exec?

I should also point out that Smoak has also told me about this awesome Jason Aldean song that has not been put on an album but has only been performed at concerts. I would have loved to hear this song played Saturday night but I did not. The song would be Cowboy Lady.

10. 

Quote Of The Week
 Comes from last week's Modern Family after Mitchell danced in the flash mob.

"You cheated on me with choreography and that is the worst kind"

If you are not watching Modern Family use the comment section to explain why.

Text Of The Week
Multiple great texts from me to an A-list crew that was not at the concert. We will go with this one.

Kelly Johnson just walked by and I told him I loved his swing as we fist bumped....why am I so awesome?

Fair question.


Tweet of The Week
This weeks tweet comes from @salliebear who is the girlfriend of one fine American, co-worker and Vanderbilt Commodore @wallybuckets. This comes in response to another fine American and co-worker @ChiGuyinAtl tweet after @walleybuckets Commodores beat @salliebears UNC Tar Heels in hoops Sunday......what did I just say?

@ChiGuyinAtl....Must have been interesting today. @wallybuckets 1, @salliebear 0 for 2010-11.

 And here is @salliebear response which is the tweet of the week

@salliebear.......@wallybuckets 3, @salliebear 748 in life


Photo Of The Week


How about this group of A-listers. Only problem no TMAC, no Goat and my brother is not there. Thanks to Heather Smoak's facebook for the photo. We got to lock up that lookaway.....just saying. Also notice how everyone is wearing a polo shirt. Yes it was discussed that week in an email.

Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks

1. Georgia Thoughts


Not really sure what to say about this game. I do know I have to stop thinking that UGA is going to win every game I attend. (That last sentence may say all there is to say about where UGA is at as a program). On Tuesday in his weekly presser Mark Richt said they had Cam Newton targeted as a tight end. I know we had Stafford at the time but that sentence may say all there is to say where UGA is at as a program. I do know Aaron Murray might be my favorite UGA football player by the time everything is said in done with his career in Athens. The kid was getting beat senseless, but kept fighting at every turn. Saturday might have been his best game of the year all things considered.  If we had a legit running game to really sell the play action fakes, he'd be a lock for SEC and national freshman of the year. Having him makes me worry less about no AJ Green next season. Who am I kidding that is going to be scary. By the way AJ Green is best receiver in school history and probably will be best receiver we have ever had and we have lost 11 games this past two seasons...explain that to me.

We have to beat Tech in two weeks or things may really get ugly. We need to keep the bowl streak alive and the extra 15 days of practice can only help. The schedule in 2011 breaks real well for the Dawgs with 7 home games and no Bama, LSU or Arkansas on the schedule. (why am I keeping the faith?)


2. College Hoops Nuggets

a. I went to the UGA home opener in hoops on Friday night and while it might shave seem liked the Dawgs were playing lathargic through the first 36 minutes, a win is a win is a win. 
b. UGA was missing it's best player in Trey Thompkins but the addition of transfer Gerald Robinson, Jr. made missing Thompkins not as big of an issue.   Robinson finished with 19 points on 8 of 14 shooting from the field, and he was really Georgia’s most reliable offensive option throughout the game.  Robinson looks strong with the ball, and he gives Georgia a viable “dribble-drive” scoring threat from the guard position.
c. I feel safe saying that no other team will come into Stegman Coliseum and make 10 3 point shots. Overall MVSU was 10 of 17 from 3 point range. Just as an FYI the Delta Devils were 9 of 12 at one point Friday night.
d. Is it me or does the Dukies look clearly like the best team in College hoops?
e. There are a couple of intriguing college hoop games tomorrow night. One is in Athens where an improved Colorado comes to town to take on the Dawgs. The second is in Gainesville, Fl where Ohio State will play the Gators. Not often you get matchups like this in game 2.
f.  How about my parents alma mater the Stetson Hatters beating the Wake Forest Demon Deacons by 10 in both teams season openers. It could by a long season in Winston-Salem.
g. One story me and ESPN's Andy Katz will keep an eye on this season is Northwestern and their bid to make their first ever NCAA tournament. They got their season off right by scoring 97 points over NIU.
h. Is the Big 10 the best conference for college hoops? You have some really good teams with Michigan St, Ohio St, Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin. This does not include Northwestern who can make their first NCAA tournament and a young Indiana team.
i.I know the ACC has Duke but the depth is not as good as the Big Ten's. The Big East has Syracuse, G'Town, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Louisville so we can make a better argument for the Big East than the ACC.
j. One more story I will keep an eye on this season is Steve Lavin's return to coaching at St. John's. Very interested to see if he can get the players to compete in the extremly tough Big East.


3. College Football Notes
a. I have to congratulate the South Carolina Gamecocks on winning in the swamp and advancing to the SEC Championship game for the first time in school history. With S. Carolina advancing to their first SEC Championship game the only SEC schools to never make it to Atlanta include Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss.
b.I am glad it took Tennessee almost the end of the season to find a quarterback in Tyler Bray. In his second game on Saturday he led his Vols to their first SEC win this season. The true freshman became the first player in Tennessee history to throw five touchdowns in a half last week against Memphis. In throwing for 323 yards against the Rebels, Bray became the first quarterback in Tennessee history to throw for 300 yards in his first two career starts.
c. Tennessee has had a lot of great QB's so for Bray to be the first at anything is pretty special.
d. With the performance of Bray the Vols now have a great shot at a Bowl something I did not think he was possible a couple of weeks ago. All they need to do now is beat Vandy and Kentucky. The series stands at 71-27-5 in Tennessee's favor against Vandy, this is pretty remarkable as the series started 17-2-2 in Vandy's favor.
e. What was I thinking that the Florda offense was back after great performances against UGA and Vandy? Florida was able to manage just 67 yards of total offense through three quarters against South Carolina. Way to many athletes on the field for that to happen. It seems like a lot of bad karma in the Swamp for the Gators as their worst showings this season have been at home.
f. I also must give some love to the Wildcats of Kentucky for coming bowl eligible for the 5th straight season. Alabama, Florida, Georgia and LSU were the only other teams in the league coming into this season that had gone to four straight bowl games.

g. How bad do my Dawgs need to win at home against Tech to keep that streak alive?
h. Oregon won by 2, their smallest margin of victory this season. Their smallest margin of victory before tonight was 11 (vs Arizona State and Washington State). They have never trailed in any 4th quarter this season. Their smallest 4th quarter lead before tonight was 11. The Ducks have outscored opponents 87-7 in the 4th.
i. The question becomes....did Cal give us a blueprint in stopping the Oregon offense?
j. The Badgers rolled up 83 points, the most Wisconsin has scored in a Big Ten game and tied for the third-most points scored in a Big Ten game. It was the most points scored by any team in a Big Ten game since Ohio State scored 83 against Iowa in 1950.
k. You literally have to score every possession to get to 83 and the Badgers did that on Saturday. Real impressive.
l. How has Northwestern beaten Iowa 5 out of the last 6 games? Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has a losing record against only two Big Ten teams -- Northwestern and Ohio State. The Buckeyes and the sweater vest come to Iowa next Saturday.
m. Before Saturday, Iowa had only 5 4th-down conversion attempts all season. Only two teams in FBS had fewer - Florida State and South Carolina.
n.What has happened to Utah? Utah, which won the first eight games of the season, has lost two straight and been outscored 75-10. It's the first time since September 1990 the Utes have been held under 10 points in consecutive games.
o. You also have to give credit to the men of Troy for their win over Arizona. The Trojans beat the Wildcats for the eighth time in the last nine meetings between the two schools. It was their fifth straight victory in Tucson.
p. The preseason #3 and #4 teams are a combined 10-10 this season. The preseason #3 and #4 teams were Texas and Florida. The Longhorns have to beat both Florida Atlantic and Texas A&M to get bowl eligible.
q. How does this Texas team beat Nebraska?
r. Also does anyone realize Oklahoma State is 9-1? I didn't. So much for replacing their QB and best WR from last year.


4. NFL Football Notes
a. A lot of great early games this week. We will start with the Jets-Browns classic that ended when Santonio Holmes scored on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Mark Sanchez with 16 seconds left. This is the latest Road overtime TD in NFL history, and the 3rd latest ever. Just unreal.
b. The Jets Mark Sanchez is just the fifth QB since 1991 to throw both an interception and TD in overtime and the first since Byron Leftwich in 2005. Prior to that, it hadn't happened since Danny Kanell did it in 1997.
c. Because brothers Rex and Rob Ryan were a story of the week I need to share with you these stats...Rob Ryan fell to 0-3 in NFL matchups and 3-5 overall coaching against his brother
d. I also watched a good bit of the Colts-Bengals game and I know the Colts won the game but they need to get some guys healthy sooner than later. Despite that the Colts have won seven straight games over the Bengals. Even more impressive was the fact Peyton Manning was held without a passing touchdown for the second time this year.
e. Why couldn't I play Manning in fantasy this week?
f. The third early game that got a lot of my attention on Sunday was the Texans-Jags. I watched this game because I had fantasy players on each team and I ended up watching a great game which I should have expected all along since my cousin the great Gus Johnson was announcing for CBS.
g. If you are not familiar with the end of the Texans-Jags game click here to watch it one amazing finish.

h. How improbable was Mike Thomas's day for the Jags on Sunday? His 149 receiving yards topped his previous best in a game by 60 (89 yards against the Broncos in the opening week of the season). Mike Thomas had just two career touchdowns in 22 games coming into Sunday. Thomas' 50-yard TD catch on the final play marked the fourth time in NFL history that a regular season game ended on a game-winning TD pass of 50 or more yards with no time remaining.

i. The Jaguars have two wins on the final play this season. They beat Indianapolis 31-28 last month on Scobee's career-long 59-yard field goal. 

j. The Chiefs were down 21-0 to the Broncos at the end of the first quarter. That is just the third time in franchise history they have been shutout in the first quarter while allowing 21 points or more, and the first time since Week 11 of the 1986 season, also against the Broncos.

k. A lot of things happened in the Detroit-Buffalo game and we should mention them here. With their loss the Lions broke their own record and now have lost an NFL-record 25 straight road games.When they lost 24 in a row between 2001 and 2003 they were outscored by an average of 7.1 points per game. In their current 25 game losing streak they have been outscored by an average of 14.8 games.
m. The Bills' Ryan Fitzpatrick now has thrown a touchdown pass in 10 consecutive games -- the longest streak by a Bills QB since Drew Bledsoe's 10-game streak to start the 2002 season.
n. I am only mentioning this because Dave Rayner was a kicker with the Colts when I interned their one summer and he was a nice guy despite having to deal with Vanderjagt and his antics. Rayner's field goal was the first attempted and made by a Lions player other than Jason Hanson in 19 seasons. The Lions had signed Rayner this week after Hanson sprained his knee last week.
o. Due to injuries to their quarterbacks, the Dolphins employed the Wildcat seven times on Sunday, averaging seven yards per play. Miami had run just 20 Wildcat plays in its first eight games. Ronnie Brown has a rushing touchdown in consecutive games for the 1st time in over a year. With his score today, he took over sole possession of 3rd place in Dolphins history.
p. Randy Moss has faced the Dolphins twice this year -- once with the Patriots and on Sunday with the Titans. Each game, he struggled to produce.
q. According to Elias Sports Bureau, since the start of 2000, coaches that take over in midseason are 3-13 in their first game. Gary Moeller (2000 Detroit Lions) and Jim Haslett (2008 St. Louis Rams) were the last to achieve this.
r. Pretty interesting game tonight in our Nation's capital. This is one of the more interesting stats you will see leading up to the game tonight... Michael Vick has not had an interception since Christmas Eve... of 2006. I spent Christmas Eve 2006 flying from Orlando to Denver as my brother was moving out to Colorado. By the way that seems forever ago.
s. Last nights matchup between Brady and Big Ben was the first match-up with multiple Super Bowl winners against each other since Joe Montana versus Jim Plunkett.
t. A few nuggets for those that enjoy football with more than a rooting interest. The Pats were 5th dog to win outright on Sunday as dogs went 7-5 ATS...overs 9-3.
u. Double-digit dogs are 9-4 ATS this year but only 2 won outright (Browns v Saints) and Cowboys at Giants yesterday.



5. MLB Thoughts
a. I absolutely love Jayson Stark's three strikes column for ESPN insider's. For those that do not get the insider here are some intriguing stats.
b. This season nobody in baseball got more hits than Ichiro (214). But amazingly, 84 players in baseball scored more runs than Ichiro (74).
c.  Not only did Suzuki score the fewest runs in history by a player who got as many hits as he did, only two other players have even made it to within 10 runs of him:
Kirby Puckett, 1989 -- 75 runs, 215 hits
Beau Bell, 1937 -- 82 runs, 218 hits
d.Who in the heck is Beau Bell? He was an outfielder for the St. Louis Browns (1935–39), Detroit Tigers (1939) and Cleveland Indians (1940–41). He was named to the 1937 American League All-Star Team.
e. Steve Garvey as the all-time king of the Runs Not Scored crowd. He had six 200-hit seasons -- and didn't score 100 runs in any of them. No one else has even had three 200-hit seasons like that. So Suzuki has a long ways to go before he can fairly be compared with King Garv.
f. Does anyone realize Bruce Chen led the Royals in wins this season? I did not. I just assumed it was Greinke.
g. In 2010, we had four different players march to the plate more than 400 times without hitting a ball that left the park. The four players:
Elvis Andrus 674 PA, 0 HR
Nyjer Morgan 577 PA, 0 HR
Jason Kendall 490 PA, 0 HR
Jamey Carroll 414 PA, 0 HR
h. That's as many zero-homer seasons (among the 400-PA crowd) in one season as we had seen in the previous four seasons combined.
i. This was the first time since (ready?) 1992 that there were this many members of the No-HR Association in one year. Back in '92, six players did it (Luis Polonia, Ozzie Smith, Omar Vizquel, Jose Lind, Willie Wilson and Doug Dascenzo).
j. I am also a huge fan of the Baseball Notes column written by Nick Cafardo in the Boston Globe every Sunday. Here is a link to this week's read.
k.Some notes include, after four seasons in a row hitting exactly 40 homers, Adam Dunn has hit 38 each of the last two seasons
l. Camden Yards is undergoing its first renovations overseen by Janet Marie Smith, who not only built that park but renovated Fenway Park.
m.How weird would it be if Edgar Renteria does not resign by the Giants. That means the World Series MVP in back to back years would not be resigned by the reigning World Series champs.
n. Has that ever happened before?

Halftime
This week's song that Smoak and myself use to rock out to while cruising the mean streets of Sylvania is Dolphins Cry by Live. Last week's trivia was 8 pitchers that have won 3 or more Cy Young Awards and I asked you all to name 5 of them. The greatest kicker in Screven County history Donald Sheppard knew that Roger Clemens (7), Randy Johnson (5), Steve Carlton (4), Greg Maddux (4), Sandy Koufax (3), Pedro Matinez (3), Jim Palmer (3) and Tom Seaver (3) were the correct answers. We are all proud of him. This week's trivia: name the last Brave to hit a home run in the World Series. Bonus points for year and the pitcher he hit it against.

6. Pretty Good Sports Week/Falcons Recap
I had a pretty good sports week this past week. It all started with the Bucks-Hawks game on Wednesday night. Thursday night I went to the Falcons-Ravens game in which was probably the best Falcons game I have ever attended inside the Georgia Dome. This does include the crazy Bears-Falcons game I went to a couple of years ago. On Friday I drove over to Athens for the Dawgs season opener in Men's hoops. The remodeled Stegman Coliseum is real nice and gives the building a modern feel. In fact the restrooms were the cleanest I have ever witnessed for a sporting event. With Tojo responsible for their upkeep I doubt we can say that next month. On Saturday I drove over to the Barn which was a great day with awesome weather and an unreal atmosphere inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Here are a couple of thoughts from the Falcons game. By far it was the loudest I have ever heard the Georgia Dome and this includes SEC Championship games, high school playoffs, and college basketball events. A lot of callers on talk radio here in Atlanta knock Matt Ryan and for the life of me I do not understand it one bit. On Thursday, Matt Ryan set a record for the most completions without an interception against the Ravens' defense.His 32 completions in 50 attempts were the only way they were going to win as they could do nothing on the ground Thursday night.

It was also cool to see Deion Sanders inducted into the teams ring of honor during halftime of the game. I remember as a kid it seemed like Deion would return a kickoff or punt or interception for a touchdown every game. Of course he did not do that every game but it sure seemed like he did. It was also funny that the Falcons starting playing music near the end of Deion's speech. Very similar to the Oscar's where they turn on the music as to say shut up your time is over.


7. College Power 5

1. Auburn-I do not think anyone can stop Cam Newton (except Cecil Newton's mouth). The guy is unreal. I have seen Tebow play and Newton can do everything Tebow can do except better. 
2. Oregon-Bye week then home game against Arizona the Friday after Thanksgiving and at Oregon St on 12/4
3. TCU-The Horned Frogs won but bad weekend for them nonetheless. They looked unimpressive and Utah losses 28-3 to Notre Dame
4. Boise St- Very tough to above average games left for Boise against Fresno and Nevada.
5. LSU-They should not be allowed to lay for National Championship since they did not win the conference. That's what they said about UGA in 2007.


8. NFL Power 5
-No really great football team right now or atleast not one to rank #1. I will give you the top 5 teams in no order because you can not give an order. So here are 5 #3's.
3. Atlanta Falcons-As of right now looks like the best team in the NFC. However, that changes weekly.
3. New England Patriots-I loved the fiery Tom Brady we saw last night. We used to see that guy 6-8 years ago.
3. New York Jets-Something to be said about winning back to back road games in overtime
3. Pittsburgh Steelers-Can't knock them for losing to the Pats who never lose two in a row
3. Green Bay Packers- Hopefully they used the bye to start getting healthy.


9. What I Read Last Week

A couple of great articles this week. The first comes from the New Times Magazine and it reads like a screenplay to a great movie. Titled The Great Cyberheist James Verini's article looks at the life and times and crimes of one Albert Gonzalez. Gonzalez looted and laundered millions of dollars from stolen credit card data. Oh, and p.s., he was also a paid Secret Service informant.

The second read comes from Chris Jones and Esquire magazine. Earlier this year I linked a story on how a former weatherman was able to crack The Price is Right.  Now we look at The Wheel Of Fortune and how one person was able to guess a puzzle despite only knowing only knowing one letter. Both links are fascinating reads especially if you are a game show fan like myself.

10. Non Football or Baseball Thoughts
a. Despite the fact I have not seen the show in a couple weeks but I am a huge fan of Undercover Boss. It is fascinating to see CEO's who are out of their comfort zone and how they respond to being out of their comfort zone. It is always great to see when these guys screw up because it shows a human side of the boss.
b. The Office has been surprisingly very good this season. I absolutely loved last week's episode when they went to Gabe's house. While I did not get all the Glee references it was still funny as everyone was involved.
c. How funny was Kevin when he got in bed to eat Pigs in a blanket because he always wanted to eat pigs in a blanket in a blanket.
d. Speaking of The Office the Nard Dawg has to love this news about his Cornell Big Red being ranked #1 in preseason wrestling.
e.Is it bad when I think my mom can do a better job answering this sports question than those on Jeopardy? I am pretty sure my grandma could get it right.
f. I did get to watch some of the CMA's on Wednesday night. I think it is safe to say that my new crush Miranda Lambert was the Belle of the Ball.
g. I also think that in the next 10 years there are going to be some great battles for group of the year between Zac Brown Band, Lady Antebellum and Sugarland.
h. Sources in the Big Apple tell me one Tony Romo was out with Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford in Union Square on Saturday night. Something tells me that crew had no problem creating conversation with the ladies. As we learned in Big Daddy creating conversation is half the battle.


Quote of The Week
From Brad Paisley during the CMA's Wednesday night...."After the nite Miranda and Blake are having I
bet we can expect a baby in 9 months" What does that even mean?

Text of The Week

Text Convo between my Dad and me
Him to me....
Tough game! should have kicked out #90 for Auburn

Me to him
I left and missed the fisticuffs...on way back to the ATL...losing to Auburn is like losing to the Cowboys, best team money can buy.

Him to me
Spoken very well, I think Auburn's coach is an a$$


Tweet of The Week
From Paul Pierce after his Celtics beat the heat in Miami
It's been a pleasure to bring my talents to south beach now on to Memphis


Photo of The Week
Credit to co-worker Teddy Graham for sending this to me. This company might need to hire a consultant to tell them how bad their name is.

Photo Of the Week II
Wrigley field in anticipation of Saturday's Illinois-Northwestern game...not much room in that end zone if you ask me.

Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks

1. Georgia Thoughts

Nice efficient win for the Dawgs on a chilly Saturday afternoon in the Classic City. I know somewill say it is FCS Idaho State but I say who cares. The Dawgs did what they were supposed to do and for someone who watched his  game in Sanford Stadium, I have seen the Dawgs struggle with similar opponents. In 2000 we only beat Georgia Southern 29-7, it was only 29-10 against MTSU in 2003 and UAB played us to a 16-13 score in 2003. In 2004 with David Greene and David Pollock seniors we only beat Marshall 13-3. In 2007 when we finished #2 in the country we beat Troy 44-34. By the way UGA is now 47-11 in the 58 games I have attended between the hedges. Just as an FYI, the Dawgs started out 32-4 in the first 36 games I saw in person. Furthermore, the last time UGA played a team from The Gem State, it won 48-13. (Boise State in 2005).

Georgia has now scored more than 30 points in five straight games for the first time in school history.  (Let's all blame Bobo...sarcasm) The 48-point margin of victory matches the biggest for Georgia during Mark Richt's 10 years as head coach. Earlier this season, Georgia also beat Louisiana 55-7. The 35 points scored in the second quarter was the most since 1988 against William & Mary when they also scored 35 in the 2nd quarter. Georgia would beat Mary & Bill that afternoon 59-24. The Bulldogs' 41 points in the first half was the most since 49 against Northeast Louisiana in 1994 in a single half. The Dawgs would go onto route the Indians that year 70-6.

I think I would be amiss if I did not bring up this stat; the Bulldogs have 12 INTs through 10 games in 2010 after recording 10 during the 2009 season. Georgia has forced 18 turnovers and converted them into 66 points while its opponents have scored 21 points off 12 Bulldog miscues on the year. Besides the debacle last weekend in J'ville we have been way ahead in this category this season. It has to start influencing the scoreboard at the end of games before long. 

Come back later in the week as I will try to breakdown the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. (I am thinking sometime Thursday or Friday).

2. College Football Thoughts

a. We left the UGA game early to get home for the LSU-Bama game and man I was glad I did. Holy Cow what a football game. We all pick on Les Miles but that guy does things no one else does and you have to respect the results. Then there is this stat, LSU improved to 15-1 after a defeat under Les Miles.
b. Maybe their is some genius with the hat.
c. How good has Alabama been the best few years. Saturday, Alabama lost an SEC West game for the first time since 2007, ending a streak of 12 straight wins.That's unreal.
d. How crazy would this be? Auburn loses to UGA & Bama, Bama beats Miss St & Auburn, LSU beats Ole Miss and loses to Arkansas and Arkansas beats both Miss St and LSU. While that is not to crazy, if that happens we would have a four way tie in the SEC West.
e. No idea how that tie breaker would work or how to explain it.
f. Here is some more craziness from the SEC, the East has still only won twice all season over the West, and one of those wins belongs to Vanderbilt. The Commodores won at Ole Miss.
g. I was also hoping to watch TCU-Utah but that was beat-down I was not expecting to watch. How good is that TCU defense? Utah is shut out in the 1st half for the 1st time since 2007 vs BYU. At halftime, the Horned Frogs had outgained Utah 328-72 en route to a 23-0 lead.
h. I hate playing this game but we can get a better gauge of TCU next week when Utah plays at Notre Dame.
i. There are only two teams with winning records in the bottom 20 in turnover margin: Michigan at 108 and his old school, West Virginia, which is ranked 101st.
j. Congrats to Coach Paterno on his 400th career victory. 28 of his players are currently in NFL & four former players are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
k. Only in the ACC can Clemson win despite fumbling five times, losing two of them, throwing an interception, having a touchdown called back on a holding penalty, and missing two short field goals. Only in the ACC is there a winner in a game with seven turnovers, six interceptions and no touchdown passes (congrats, BC).
l. Only in the ACC can Miami win despite 10 penalties for 100 yards, two interceptions and two missed extra-point attempts. Only in the ACC can Duke win despite allowing Virginia 643 total yards.
m. Speaking of the ACC, good luck to try and break down the Atlantic Division and have your report make sense but I will give it a try.
n. FSU, Maryland and NC State all have two conference losses. The Noles finish up at home against Clemson and at Maryland. Maryland finishes at Virginia then home games against FSU and NC State. NC State is home against Wake then plays at UNC and at Maryland.
o. Do not sleep on the Clemson Tigers, who finish up at FSU and at Wake Forest.
p. What is going on with Texas? That team has recruited to me top 5 classes to struggle the way they have this season. Right now they sit at 4-5 with games against Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic and Texas A&M. Right now you have to think they could only beat FAU.
q. I can not tell you how bad I wished we played Auburn early in the season and South Carolina near the end. With their loss Saturday night the Gamecocks are 3-8 in November since 2007. They looked disinterested Saturday night.

r. Here are a couple of early spreads for your interest. FSU -8.5 vs Clemson. Bama -14 versus Miss St. Utah -5 versus Notre Dame. Georgia +9 versus Auburn. Florida -6 versus South Carolina.


3. NFL Thoughts
a. With Matt Ryan as their QB the Falcons have won 13 in a row and  are 17-1  overall. That is unreal. Maybe I should have gotten some Falcons season tickets this year.

b. The Falcons used their big men well on Sunday, averaging 6.6 yards per play with two-or-more tight ends on the field, 2.3 yards per play more than when they used one or fewer tight ends. They also scored all three of their touchdowns with two or more tight ends in the game.

c. Unreal stat from Sunday Night Football. No QB has been better than 12-4 record in their last 16 games.
d. I watched the highlights of the Jets-Lions game and still have no idea how the Jets won that ballgame. Sunday marked the 3rd time in Jets HISTORY that they tied a game with 0:00 left in regulation and then won it in overtime. The other two times that happened was against the Dolphins.
e. Even though he missed the PAT, I think the fact that Suh was able to even try the PAT was awesome. The last Lions player that played a position other than kicker or punter and attempted an extra point was Jim O'Brien on 11/18/1973 at Chicago.The last non-kicker/punter in the NFL to do this was Doug Flutie for New England in week 17 of the 2005 season.
f. The G-Men are looking more and more like the best team in the NFC. Maybe they need to get Tiki Barber (who is a joke) to say more bad things about them. Here is what the Giants accomplished on Sunday. They won in Green Bay for the first time since October 18, 1981 (I was 6 weeks old).
g. The Giants have now scored 40 or more points in consecutive road games for the first time since 1966.Furthermore, the 35 scored in the first half is the most since they scored 35 in the first half in December in 1985.
h.Charlie Whitehurst made his first NFL start Sunday for the Seahawks. Whitehurst from Clemson, has been in the NFL since getting drafted in 2006, but has yet to throw a pass in a regular-season game. Since 2006, 81 non-QBs have thrown at least one pass in the NFL. The most attempts by a non-QB since 2006 is 11 by Josh Cribbs and Ronnie Brown.
i. Not much went right for the Pats on Sunday but Tom Brady now has 238 career TD passes. This surpassed Jim Kelly for 17th in NFL history
j. On Sunday Brett Favre had career-high 446 pass yards. This is his first 400 yard passing game since 12/5/93. The span of 16 years, 337 days between 400 yard games is longest ever. So much for him being finished. I still do not trust him in a big spot.
k. Michael Vick today joined Randall Cunningham & Steve Young as only QBs ever w/ 4,200 career rushing yards.
l. I do not like the guy but Jeremy Shockey on Sunday became 8th tight end in NFL history to reach 500 receptions. Very interested on the Hall of Fame debate when his career is over. I say no but you could make an argument.
m. I watched a lot of the Oakland-KC game on Sunday on the small tv while the Colts-Eagles game was on the big screen. The story of the Raiders turnaround this season has been fascinating. On Sunday they won despite turning the ball over 3 times and committing 13 turnovers. That does not happen.
n. Oakland's Jacoby Ford had 148 receiving yards, 158 Kickoff return yards Ford is only the 2nd player in NFL history to have at least 140 receiving yards and 150 kickoff return yards in the same game. The other was Gary Ballman, who did it on Nov. 17, 1963.
o. Back to the Colts game in which was one of the more entertaining games of the year. It seemed like every call when against the Eagles and the Colts could still not capitalize. A lackadaisical 3rd quarter for the Colts cost them big time especially when they had all the momentum.
p. Since 2000, the Eagles are 36-9 when scoring a TD on their opening drive.
q. For those that care about that sort of thing in early games yesterday underdogs went 4-3-1 ATS. Surprisingly, the Browns were the only of those four to win outright.
r. For those that like the over/under...overs went 9-3 on Sunday and NYJ-DET and KC-OAK needed OT to make it over.

4. MLB Thoughts
a. We all know the story of the postseason is the San Fran Giants but we have to discuss how good their pitching was this postseason. The Rangers hit .190 against them. The Braves hit .175 against them. The Phillies hit .216 against them.
b. If the Braves could have got one more hit per game that average would have been .204 and maybe I would be giving you stats on Braves pitching not Giants pitching.
c. Back to the Giants, the Giants' combined opponents batting average this postseason: .196. Since the wild-card era began in 1995, only one staff that had to play all three rounds has beaten that, and that was the Randy Johnson/Curt Schilling 2001 Diamondbacks at .193.
d. Seven times in 15 postseason starts, the Giants' starter gave up no more than one earned run and all four starters did that at least once. Only two World Series winners in history ever got that many starts that good by four different pitchers -- the '99 Yankees (7, by Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Orlando Hernandez and David Cone) and '98 Yankees (7, by the same foursome).
e. Last team to win a World Series without starting a single pitcher 28 or older: the 1973 Oakland A's of Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter and Ken Holtzman.
f. Cody Ross hit eighth for the Giants in their first game of the postseason nd hit fourth in their last game of the postseason. He was just the third player in history to start in both the No. 4 hole and the No. 8 hole in the same postseason, according to Elias. The others: Frank White for the 1985 Royals, and Eric Chavez for the 2000 A's.
g. The Giants spent only 36 days all season in first place. According to Elias, if you don't count wild-card teams, that's the fewest days spent in first place by any team that won the World Series in a quarter-century since the 1985 Royals won after a season in which they were in first for only 30 days.
h. According to Elias, Cliff Lee is the first pitcher in history to win at least three postseason games for two different teams that traded for him in midseason. The only other pitcher who ever won three games in any postseason after being acquired in midseason was Jeff Weaver, for the 2006 Cardinals.
i. By the way both Weaver and Lee have something in common: they were traded by the Rangers mid-season.
j. Enough World Series talk. Let's discuss the hot stove.
k. By the way, I watched a lot of the Arizona Fall League All-Star game on Saturday night. Does this make me a loser?
l. For the regular season only here are Roy Halladay's pitch totals the last 3 years: 3568 (10th in MLB), 3394 (17th), and 3559 (6th). We must also add the 317 pitches he threw in the playoffs. Total everything up and one gets close to 275 innings. If he were a Brave I would be worried.
m. From 2005-07, the Nationals won 3 more games than the Giants. Study their drafts and read this article and you might be able to see why the Giants fortunes were able to change.
n. This article does a pretty good job breaking down the differences for Cliff Lee and the tax implications if Lee were to sign in New York compared to Texas.
o. If the Yankees offer Lee a five-year, $120 million contract and he establishes residency in New York State (not the City), the Rangers could offer him $111.5 million if he takes up residency in Texas and it will be the same deal.
p. If Lee were to live in New York City versus somewhere in Texas, the Rangers could offer a five-year, $107.2 million deal against the Yanks' $120 million and it would work out to the same net dollars for Lee
q. Those are unreal differences in cash just by deciding where to lay your head.
r.  Here is the MLB Award schedule: Rookie Of The Year, 11/15; NL Cy Young 11/16; Manager Of Year 11/17; AL Cy Young 11/18; NL MVP 11/22; AL MVP 11/23.
s. On Saturday Buster Olney reported that at the World Series Pedro "Big Panda" Sandoval started his day with a breakfast of Cheetos and Mountain Dew. Even I usually begin my day with some Oatmeal. Not good Panda, not good at all.

5. An Awesome Trip
If you know me at all you know I appreciate a good road trip coupled around great food, great cities and great sports. This December co-worker Nabil and myself are using some time off to accomplish such a grand adventure. The trip begins Saturday morning December 4th with a Delta flight from Atlanta to Philly. A car will be rented in Philly and driven to Syracuse, NY for that evenings Syracuse-NC State basketball game. After the game some Dinosaur BBQ will be feasted on. The next day brings us a trip to Cooperstown and Baseball's Hall of Fame. I have been once to the Hall of Fame and spent about an hour and half in the museum instead of the 5 hours that should be spent. As of now no idea where we lay our head on Sunday night. (Don't worry Mom).

Monday involves a trip into the city so nice they named it twice. Monday afternoon brings us tickets to see a taping of Jimmy Fallon. Tuesday will involve a trip to Astoria for some Derek Jeter's (the sandwich) and the Jimmy V Classic that night at the World's Most Famous Arena. We will help raise money for a great cause by attending a legit night of hoops. (Just a side note, if you have about 5 minutes and want to hear one of my favorite speeches ever...click here). The two games we will see at the Garden include Memphis-Kansas and Michigan State-Syracuse.

Wednesday involves a trip to Bean town. More than likely lunch will be one of two places; 1. The Seven Sea's in Milford, Ct which is the post show hangout of Dan Patrick and his Dannettes. 2. Frank Pepe's Pizzeria in New Haven, Ct which is one of the oldest Pizzeria's in this great land of ours.  The rest of Wednesday will be a drive into The Hub and a visit to TD Banknorth Garden (or whatever bank is sponsoring it these days) for the Celtics and Nuggets. Thursday will bring some sightseeing and potentially some college hockey as the Huskies of Northeastern visit the Terriers of Boston University.

Not quite sure of Friday's plans but they will involves us leaving Bostonia. We have a couple of different options to look at and this includes a college hockey game at West Point as Army skates with the Bentley Falcons. Other options includes New Jersey Nets basketball at the Rock or Princeton hockey. Saturday will complete the circle as we return to Philly for the annual Army-Navy football game. Saturday evening will involve some cheese-steaks and knowing what I know about Nabil and myself a trip to AC is not out of the possibility. Sunday morning we fly home in time to get on the couch for week 14 in the league where they play for pay.

Let me know if you would like to join for any or all of this great adventure. 

Halftime
This week's song that Smoak and myself used to rock out to while cruising the streets of Sylvania is Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication. By the way this one of my favorite videos ever. We are back with trivia this week. There have been 8 pitchers that have won 3 or more Cy Young Awards. Name 5 of them. Hint the earliest you need to turn you calendar to is 1963.

6. Best Candy Bars

Last week at work we had a pretty good discussion on everyone's favorite candy bar's/chocolate. Below you will see everyone's favorites with some of my thoughts. (Why am I hungry now....goes and eats 8 bags of M&M's). In the comments section please share your top 5. You will be glad you did.

Coaches Top 5
1. Plain M&M's- Better if put in the freezer for a few minutes. Lawyer Dan taught me that trick.
2. Reese's Peanut Cup- If I go more than a week without eating some Reese's Peanut Cups
3. Peanut M&M's- Another solid M&M product.
4. Twix-I like eating the top half before eating the bottom half. Yes, I am fat.
5. Take 5-Very underrated and not enjoyed enough by me.

Brodie's Top 5
1. Peanut Butter M&M's-Not sure if I have had this sort of M&M's but call me intrigued.
2. Reese's Cup- Brodie knows what is up.
3. Peanut M&M's-Again Brodie knows the deal.
4. Baby Ruth-Does any other athlete have a candy bar named after them?
5. Payday-

Nicely's
1. Ring Pop
2. Fun Dip
3. Nerds
4. Pixy Stix
5. Gummy Bears
-You might catch me eating some Nerds, besides that no thanks.

Ingle
1. Snickers-The old classic, tough to knock this solid #1.
2. Twix
3. White Chocolate Reese's- I did not even know this existed. I have to try.
4. Junior Mint - I can not think of Junior Mint's without this clip from Seinfeld.
5. Milky Way


7. College Top 5
1. Oregon-I do not see how you keep this offense out of the 40's. That does not mean it can not happen.
2. Auburn- Big game on the loveliest village on the Plains. This is my first trip to Auburn for a football game. 
3. TCU- The Horned Frogs have probably been college football's most dominant team this season.
4. Boise St- Why do I like TCU but not like the Broncos.
5.Stanford- I probably should not mention this but I have a man crush on Jim Harbaugh.


8. NFL Top 5
1. Pittsburgh-Goes from #3 to #1 on the basis that the schedule maker gave them a Monday instead of Sunday game.
2. New York Giants-Unreal for them to fly across the country and play the way they did.
3. New York Jets- I did not like the way they looked but a win is a win is a win, espicially in the NFL.
4. Baltimore Ravens-How good is Ed Reed? Why does it seem like he gets a pick 6 every Sunday.
5. Atlanta Falcons- Short week for a banged up football team. All they do is win. Or at least that's all they do at home with Matty Ice as their QB.


9. What I Read This Week

Read multiple great articles this week. The first article comes from Wired magazine and takes a look at Ticketmaster. It discusses how everyone dislikes Ticketmaster but at the same time how no one can take it down. Very intriguing read for those that have ever sold or bought a ticket.

The second read is written by Wright Thompson for ESPN Los Angeles and he takes a look at Zenyatta the 6 year old mare who on Saturday missed a perfect career by a neck Saturday night. Zenyatta was purchased at the low price of $60,000 because she suffered from a form of ringworm; she has since won purses totaling over $6 million and is noted for overtaking her competition in an intense surge after starting each of her races "lingering languidly" at the rear of the pack. Unreal read by Wright Thompson.

The third read also discusses Zenyatta and it is Sports Illustrated Tim Layden's report from Churchill Downs. Not often you have a piece of journalism live up to the hype of the preceding event but in this piece it does. I try to read everything Tim Layden writes.


10. Non football or baseball thoughts
a. WOW! What a race in the Breeder's Cup Classic early Sunday evening.
b. In case you missed it here is a link to one of the more exciting Horse Races you will ever see. How heartbroken does Zenyatta's jockey look after the race. I read some articles on Sunday that by Zenyatta's reaction at first she thinks she won.
c. Have I ever said that it is on my Bucket List to own a race horse. We might have to call him/her Reese's Cup.
d. Last night when Bob Costas said it was 39 in Green Bay it was 46 in Atlanta. Not enough difference if you ask me.
e. Braves right handed pitcher Peter Moylan has his own blog and it is absolutely a riot. Here is Moylan's blog on the start of week 2 in his off season workouts.
f. Speaking of off season workouts. Today starts week 6 of boot camp. My fitness level is improving. My diet has improved a very smart amount. It needs to change a whole lot for me to start looking like Brad Pitt.
g. I saw The Bank Job this weekend. Very good movie, especially when one considers that the movie was based on a true story. I have to do more research and see if I can find some articles on this great story.
h. How come I did not know Garth Brooks was going to do a series of benefit concerts in Nashville? Apparently he sold over 140,000 tickets for 6 shows over 9 days in mid December. That is an awful job by me for not knowing about this.
i. If you can give me a reason why Modern Family is not the best show on television I want to hear it. Unreal how funny each episode is.
j. Last week the roomdog went to Dallas for a football game and the World Series. We allowed him to blog about his trip. Click here to read about the adventures.
k. I know I mentioned the Jimmy V speech earlier but if you have not heard it, click here.

Quote of The Week
 The quote of the week comes from L$U head football coach who was asked Saturday about eating grass on the sidelines during games. The mad hatter is one character.
"I know one thing, the grass in Tiger Stadium tastes best."

His QB Russell Shepard follows up with this beauty
"I see him do it every day. That’s Coach Miles. He eats that grass. I guess he says it has a lot of protein.”

Text of The Week
 The text of the week comes from my buddy Todd in the Big Apple when I asked him if I could lay my head in December when me and Nabil come to town. This is his reply.

Your apt is my apt and Nabil is gonna have to prove himself as a true man of weight or he's sleeping under the Queensboro.




Tweet of The Week
This week's trivia comes from Atlanta Braves relief pitcher and Aussie Peter Moylan.

@PeterMoylan: my fiance just saw Ryan Reynolds and turner field and immediately regretted coming home with me!!!
 
Picture of The Week
This week photo is for Lawyer Dan as we capture two of his favorite former CBS co-workers. Thanks to Bonnie for tweeting this photo. It looks like a great scene on the Bayou on a Saturday afternoon.

The Roomdawg Goes On A Trip

The Roomdawg spent halloween weekend in the metroplex, here is his take on a nice Sunday and Monday.
 
Had a quick, but action packed 2 day trip out to Dallas.  The main purpose of the trip was to catch 2 of the Rangers World Series games, and an added bonus ended up being getting to the new Cowboys Stadium.  My old roommate (and friend from back home) and I were both able to book free flights out to Dallas.  I was able to purchase World Series tickets for Game 4 and Game 5 through the Braves.  Along with the free flight, I had a friend who lives in Dallas and we were able to stay with him for free.  After all of this had been decided/booked, we discovered the Cowboys would be at home to face the Jaguars.  Unfortunately, it is really expensive to go see games at this venue.... most of the lower bowl sells for $300 per ticket just to give you an idea.  Fortunately though, the perfect storm of circumstances had happened and we were able to find cheap tickets....... The Cowboys are horrible, their quarterback got hurt the week before, they were playing a bad opponent, and most people were probably more interested in the World Series game later that night...... this helped us get 50 yard line seats, at the very top of the stadium, normally priced at about $100 each..... we paid $40 each (including all stubhub service fees).  Here is a view of the scoreboard and our seats.

The scoreboard is so incredible, that you end up watching the game there instead of looking at the field itself.  The Cowboys got smoked by the Jaguars.  It was so bad that with 9 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the crowd started chanting "Lets go Rangers"!!!

We had a few hours to waste, and we did so by walking about a mile to a Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the late NFL games.  Then it was time to walk over to The Ballpark at Arlington..... the 5th new baseball stadium this season for me, and 22nd all time.  It was Halloween, so of course I had to dress up.  I brought my Kenny Powers hat/mullet and jersey.  Several people walking by would yell "Hey Kenny Powers" at me, and a couple guys even stopped to take my picture.  Later on, I even came across another guy dressed as KP.

The crowd ended up being pretty quiet over the course of the 2 games I saw, but I can't say I blame them.... they only managed about 6 hits, 1 run, and never was winning during games 4 and 5.  It also made me a little sad to look over behind home plate in the upper deck and see the 200 or so Giants employees/friends/families.... could have been the Braves.  They did impress me though.... those 200 Giants employees/fans were louder than most of the 50,000 Rangers fans most of the time.  After they brought out the giant American flag,

I got to watch George W. Bush (with George H.W. Bush standing nearby) throw out the first pitch to HOF pitcher Nolan Ryan.  Interesting piece of information.... this is the third time I've seen George W. Bush throw out a first pitch at a baseball game..... first ever game at Miller Park, first ever game at Nationals Park, and Game 4 of 2010 World Series. 

Game 4 was pretty boring since the home crowd never had anything to cheer for, but its cool to think that I saw one of the most dominant performances by a rookie pitcher in a World Series game (Madison Bumgarner).I was very excited heading into Game 5 on Monday night.  Cliff Lee vs Tim Lincecum would be the pitching matchup, and I would have the chance to watch a team clinch the World Series.  There was a cool sunset just before the game and I said to my friend, "Is this the sun setting on the Rangers season tonight?" 

It ended up being a great pitching matchup, as the only runs of the game were scored on a late inning 3 run home run, by former Brave and eventual WS MVP Edgar Renteria.  Well, I got my wish.  I got to say I was there to watch a team celebrate a World Series Championship.

I'd say it was a great trip.

Ten Things JJ Thinks He Thinks

Sorry for the delay in the 10 Things this week and the Octoberless 10 things.  I had everything for this week written Sunday night except for my Georgia thoughts and Non Football-Baseball Thoughts (We need a cooler name for this portion of the Ten Things). Thus you will see no World Series commentary but come back next week for those thoughts. I know you will. Well here are the Ten Things, now that my life has slowed down some you should get this Monday mornings for the foreseeable future. As always your comments are appreciated and if you know anyone else who would enjoy reading this awesome column let me know. Also, it is really November already?

1. Georgia Thoughts
No clue at all where to begin with this game. I do know that if Aaron Murray hadn't picked this game to look like a freshman, Georgia wins. If Murray had played in the first half as he did in the second, Georgia wins. If Murray had been able to get the ball to Orson Charles, who went largely uncovered all day, before UGA was down 21-7, Georgia probably wins. If the Bulldogs don't lose the turnover battle four to one, Georgia wins. If Georgia scoops up Burton's first half fumble, it's a much different game at the least.

Nonetheless, we never catch these guys when they have key guys out, the way Mississippi State caught them; they invariably catch us at the most inopportune times (i.e., during the one game D.J. Shockley was injured in 2005). For crying out loud, Florida benefited from its own false start penalties, which erased positive Georgia plays on more than one occasion in a game in which the Orange and Blue were penalized nine times to the Bulldogs’ two.

The folks who say we should move the Georgia-Florida game are right, but the change should be a chronological one, not a geographic one. The Bulldogs are 8-14 all-time against the Gators in October and 39-26-2 against them in November. We don’t need the game to be nearer; we need it to be later. We also need to get the Gators out of head as this years version of the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party was more mental than physical. Until we can get over the mental issue that is the Florida Gators the Georgia program will never get to the place that it needs to be.

I am still sick to my stomach by the way.

2. College Football Thoughts
a. In last 8 games, TCU's D has given up 57 points. In 8 quarters yesterday, Auburn and Oregon gave up 63 points.
b.Oregon's remaining opponents 18-14 (56 win pct) easier than TCU (58), Boise (63), Auburn (64) and Utah (65) which is most difficult.
c.Boise's top opponents left are Hawaii (7-2) and Nevada (7-1); while Auburn will have to deal with UGA (4-5), Ala (7-1) and SEC title game
d. I do have to think that 4-5 UGA is better than 7-2 Hawaii and 7-1 Nevada. With that being said I do think Nevada is a pretty good football team.
e.The Hawkeyes' win over Michigan St throws the Big Ten/Rose Bowl race into chaos. Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan State all have one conference loss, with the Badgers having beaten the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes but lost to the Spartans. Iowa will play Ohio State on Nov. 20, which will eliminate one contender, but a three-way tie is entirely possible, and the tiebreaker could be infinitely complicated.

f. How do I get the feeling that someway somehow Ohio State will find its way to the Rose Bowl. They always do. Hopefully that will not be the case this season.
g. Speaking of Iowa-Michigan State, I thought Iowa could beat Sparty but I did not see a 37-6 beat down coming. Even more impressive was the rushing yards discrepancy which had Iowa out-gaining Michigan State 162 to 31.
h. Am I the only that is shocked to see Baylor leading the Big XII South on November 1st? What about 4-4 Texas? Who would have thought this week's Baylor-Oklahoma State game this weekend would be so huge? How big potentially is Oklahoma-Oklahoma State later this month? It could be bedlam.
i. Crazy things seem to happen in the Big XII South don't they?
j. Speaking of crazy things who wold have thought we would see the day when a Conference USA team would go into South Bend and beat the Irish. Notre Dame who are 4-5 still has to play Top Ten Utah and travel to the coliseum and play USC. The midle game between those two is a trip to the Bronx to play Army at the new Yankee Stadium. This team is looking more and more like a 5-7 team.
k. Five runners went over 100 yards Saturday in the SEC. Four of the five are freshmen (M. Dyer, M. Lattimore, Jeff Scott & Trey Burton). The 5th is a Junior College transfer (Vick Ballard).
l. I need to watch more games and highlight shows to have more thoughts.

3. NFL Thoughts
a. Was Sunday's early games the worst set of games the league has given us in a while?
b. Brandon Lloyd is 1st player in 20+ years & 6th since '70 w 800 rec yards in 1st 8 games & 20+ yards per catch avg
c. On Sunday Jets RB LaDainian Tomlinson has joined Hall of Famer Walter Payton as only RBs ever with 13,000 rush yards & 4,000 receiving yards.
d. San Fransico & Denver are only clubs to face NFL opponent in 6 different countries outside the US. This does include preseason.
e. Jaguars are 21-4 when David Garrard has 100+ passer rating. He finished with rating of 157.8 versus the Cowboys on Sunday.
f. The Cowboys have their first four-game losing streak since 2002. They are also 0-4 at home this season and 6-6 overall at the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium.
g. Things are real bad in Dallas and it is bad when the win less Bills play harder than the Cowboys at home with a backup quarterback. The Cowboys have a Bye Week this week before traveling to Green Bay in two weeks, then at NY Giants, then home to Dallas and New Orleans (Thanksgiving). December brings a trip to Indy, home versus Philly and Washington, then end the year at Arizona and Philly. Does Dallas win two more games?
h. Sam Bradford is only rookie QB selected No. 1 overall to win 4 of 1st 5 home starts since 1967, the first year of the common draft.
i. Raiders have won past 2 games by combined 75 points. Last time they accomplished that was 1967.
j. Chiefs running back Thomas Jones has run for 500 yards for 5 different teams.
k.Not all is bad for winless Buffalo. Steve Johnson tied a Buffalo record with a touchdown in five straight games. Ryan Fitzpatrick's touchdown pass gave him an eight-game streak, the longest by a Bills quarterback since 2002. It was the third time in Bills history they played back-to-back overtime games.
l. Good Question...who is Steve Johnson. He was the Bills 7th round pick in 2008. Johnson started out Chabot College in Hayward, California from 2004–2006. He then transferred to the University of Kentucky playing wide receiver.
m.Why is Chan Gailey coaching the NFL?
n. The Bills are the 4th team in NFL history to lose on the road in overtime in consecutive weeks The others: 2009 Steelers Nov. 22-29 1986 Steelers Nov. 23-30 1983 Bears Sept. 18-25
o. The Chiefs become the 5th team in NFL history to win a game with 0:00 left in overtime. The last time it happened was 1994.
p.I watched a lot of the New England-Minnesota game and while Minnesota dominated the first half you never we worried about the Patriots espically with the scored tied 7-7 at the half. Brady won his 25th consecutive home game as a starter, tying him with Favre for the record. The Patriots improved to 3-5 on Halloween, and 1-0 against the NFC this year. The Vikings are 0-3 against the AFC this season.
q. For those that are Fantasy Football players these stats are for you: Nine different Vikings caught passes. Green-Ellis scored for the fifth straight game. Peterson has six of Minnesota's seven rushing TDs this season.
r. Since starting last season 6-0, the Broncos have lost 13 of their last 17 games. During their 6-0 start in '09, the Denver defense allowed just 11 points and 262.5 yards per game - and had 21 sacks. Since: 26.9 points per game and just 27 sacks in almost 3 times as many games.
s. Why was Rex Grossman in for the Redskins Two-Minute drill? If I owned the Redskins Shannahan would not get off the plane with his job because that was inexcusable. That was a bad message he sent his team about McNabb.
t. Detroit has four wins since the start of last season and two of them are against the Redskins. They also scored 23 4th quarter points to beat the Skins. The Lions have now scored at least 30 points in three games this season after scoring 30 just once in the 2008 and 2009 seasons combined. The Lions are not far from being good.


4. Baseball Thoughts
a. I saw these stats about cycles a couple weeks ago and became really intrigued. There have been 231Cycles completed since 1920. In that same time period there have been some cycle near misses. Here are how the near misses break down - 1B short 424, 2B short 1,604, 3B short 12,140, HR short 4,587.
b.There are only two current major league teams that have not had a player hit for the cycle: the San Diego Padres and Florida Marlins. No player has ever hit for the cycle in a post-season game.
c. The rarity of hitting for the cycle is reflected in the fact that of the ten players who have had 3,000 career hits and 300 career home runs, only four have ever hit for the cycle: Carl Yastrzemski, Dave Winfield, George Brett and Stan Musial.
d. The Pirates have hit for the cycle 23 times which is the most in MLB. The Giants/Yankees are tied for second with 22 cycles a piece.
e. On July 16, 2010, Bengie Molina became the first catcher in MLB history to hit for the cycle and hit a grand slam in the same game. The feat was in itself unexpected as Molina (known for his lack of baserunning ability) had only five triples in his career prior to his cycle.
f. Only once since 1957 has a player had the minimum of 4 plate appearances and hit for the natural cycle: Brad Wilkerson on June 24, 2003 for the Expos versus the Pirates.
g.Five players in MLB history have completed a cycle with a walk-off home run: Ken Boyer (1961), César Tovar (1972) George Brett (1979), Dwight Evans (1984) and Carlos González (2010).
h. Throughout MLB baseball history there have been 291 cycles. For comparison sake there have been 269 no hitters.
i. Ranger pitcher Tommy Hunter gone after 4 innings last night. He's 4th pitcher to go 4 or shorter 3 straight postseason starts. Others: Mercker ('99), Show ('84) Kenny Rogers ('96)
j. Hunter did not have his first swing and a miss until the 79th pitch last night.
k.Madison Bumgarner never walked a lead off hitter in any big-league start this year. So of course he walked leadoff hitter Sunday night on 4 pitches.
l. I think it is safe to say Johnathan Sanchez is tired. On Saturday, he was never clocked at higher than 91 mph, and had his 2nd-worst velocity of the season.
m. I do not think we can knock Sanchez as he has thrown 45 more innings this year compared to last season.
n. The question becomes what happens if this series hits a 7th game, does Sanchez start again.
o. The shattering of maple bats seems to be a continuing problem, but I read this week, the number of instances was down some 30 percent this season from 2009
p. Speaking of Sanchez, his ERA has decreased each of the last three seasons — 5.01, 4.24, and 3.07 — as his walk totals have increased — 75, 88, and a league-leading 96 this season.
q. Tampa Bay Ray Carlos Pena finished with 95 hits, only 49 of which were singles.
r.  The San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers combine for 16 foreign-born players, matching the all-time high for a World Series set in 2003 (Florida vs. New York Yankees) and 2007 (Colorado vs. Boston)
s. The 16 players hail from the Dominican Republic (8 – Santiago Casilla; Nelson Cruz; Neftali Feliz; Vladimir Guerrero; Guillermo Mota; Alexi Ogando; Ramon Ramirez; and Juan Uribe); Puerto Rico (4 – Javier Lopez; Bengie Molina; Jonathan Sanchez; and Andres Torres); Venezuela (3 – Elvis Andrus; Andres Blanco; and Pablo Sandoval); and Colombia (1 – Edgar Renteria).
t.To highlight how the landscape has changed over the years, foreign-born players in the World Series did not hit double-digits until 1993 when there were 10 and as late as 1989 and 1990 there were but 3. The last time there were no foreign-born players on a World Series roster was 1953.



5. A Look Back-My MLB Predictions
If you want to take look back at my preseason projections you can by clicking here. However, I will give you the highlights. I had Atlanta, Philly, St. Louis, and Colorado making the playoffs in the NL. In the AL I had the Yankees, Tampa, Minnesota, and Seattle. In my opinion 5 of the 8 playoff teams is average. The Seattlem pick was awful and I bought into Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee without acknowledging a lineup that had Casey Kotchman hitting clean-up. I both the NL and AL East I had the Wild Card and Division winners flip-flopped. I also had a Braves-Rays World Series. It has to be mentioned that the teams that eliminated the Braves and Rays are currently playing in the World Series.

I also questioned why the Giants did not make a bigger run at Jason Bay or Matt Holliday. Who would have thought Aubrey Huff would have been so good for them. My projections for MVP, Cy Young, Comeback Player of The Year, etc were AWFUL. On a side note how good did my Troy Glaus Comeback Player of The Year pick look in mid June. Also, how good was I predicting the record of the Washington Nationals?

Halftime
This weeks songs that Smoak and myself rocked out to this weekend while road trippin to Jacksonville includes Miranda Lambert's The House That Built Me. The second song from this weekend is about as far from Miranda Lambert as you could get. The second song is "We Be Steady Mobbin" by Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane. Be careful with the adult language if played at work.

Just as FYI, trivia will return next week.


6. Way To Early SEC Bowl Thoughts
a. As the calendar turns to November it will be interesting to see how some of the bowl projections play out. Normally you have to be 6-6 to be considered eligible but this season there is the chance there will not be enough .500 teams so some 5-7 teams might find themselves playing a bowl game.

b. I told you this year has been crazy in college football.

c. The SEC has ties in with a BCS Bowl, Capital One, Cotton, Outback, Gator, Chick-fil-a, Music City, Liberty and Birmingham Bowls. Do not forget there is an a great chance that ethier Auburn or Alabama might play in the BCS Championship game allowing the loser of the Bama-Auburn game to make an at-large BCS game.

d. If this scenerio happens the SEC will have 10 bowl spots, not the question becomes will they have 10 teams with the required 6 wins. So far there are 6 SEC bowl teams eligible and this includes Auburn, Bama, Arkansas, Mississippi St, LSU and South Carolina. The Gators have 5 wins with upcoming games at Vandy, home versus App St, home versus South Carolina and at FSU. You have to think they get atleast 1 win.

e. Georgia is 4-5 with games at home against Idaho State and Georgia Tech with a trip to the Auburn on the plains in two weeks. The question becomes can they beat Georgia Tech or Auburn. I know Tech lost to Kansas so Georgia should and I mean should beat Tech.

f. Ole Miss is currently 3-5 with games against Louisiana-Lafayette, at Tennessee, at LSU and home to Mississippi State. Does Johnny Rebel go 3-1. I do not see it but 5-7 is a real possibility.

g. Vandy is 2-6 and has to beat Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Wake Forest to become bowl eligible. If they can upset Kentucky 5-7 is a real possibility with potential wins over Tennessee and Wake Forest.

h. Kentucky is currently 4-5 with contests remaining with Charleston Southern, Vandy and Tenn. So I do think the Cats will get to 6 wins.

i. Tennessee is 2-6 and needs to win at Memphis, home versus Ole Miss, at Vandy and home versus Kentucky. Do the Vols get to 6-6? It would take a miracle. I think they lose to Vandy and Kentucky but 5-7 is not out of the picture.
j. This is how I project the bowls:
BCS Championship: Alabama
Sugar: Auburn
Capital One: South Carolina
Cotton: Mississippi State
Outback: Arkansas
Gator: LSU
Chick-fil-A: Florida
Music City: Georgia
Liberty: Kentucky
Birmingham: ??????
k. Chris Lowe who blogs the SEC for ESPN projects the SEC bowls like this. Mark Schlabach and Andrea Adelson also do Bowl Projections for the Mothership.
l. Who is in for a trip to Nashville on December 30th?


7. NFL Power 5

1.New England Patriots-This team is unreal the way the do business. So smart and efficient.
2.Indianapolis Colts- Did you really think #18 would be affected by all the injuries.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers- Despite loss in New Orleans still one of the best teams in football.
4. New York Jets- Getting shut out at home by the Packers following a Bye was bad, real bad.
5. Atlanta Falcons- Hard to believe with a win over Tampa on Sunday they can take control of the NFC South.


8. College Power 5

1. Oregon- The 53 points scored against USC on Saturday were the most ever scored by Oregon against USC.
2. Auburn- Mike Dyer continued to establish himself as the Tigers' go-to back, rushing 21 times for a career-high 180 yards and a touchdown.
3. Boise St-Tough for me to take Boise serious when they play on Tuesday night.
4. TCU- When TCU @ Utah is the game I am looking forward to the most is a sure sign this is one crazy college football season.
5.Alabama- The tide probably have November's toughest schedule with games at LSU, and home games versus Mississippi State, Georgia State and Auburn.


9. What I Read This Week

Two reads for your weekly enjoment. The first one comes from a Sports Illustrated article from 1989 and discusses how teams allocate money from the playoffs. Very intriguing considering the same games are still being played today except there are a few more zero's involved but not that much more.


The second read comes from Vanity Fair and is an excerpt from Bill Carter's new book The War For Late Night. The story looks at a behind-the-scenes story of late night tv's explosive 2010 between Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. If I was smart enough I would take this story and write a movie on it. It is that good.


10. Non Football or Baseball Related Thoughts
a. Franceour says his favorite Halloween costume is a cheerleading uniform. What does that even mean?
b. UGA Basketball begins Friday night November 12th. I have season tickets so pick a game and email me and maybe you will find yourself riding with me to Athens for some hoops. Just a note those that sign up for garbage games in November and December get priority come SEC play in January and February. Just saying.
c. I went and watched the movie Due Date on Monday night. Very funnny as both Robert Downey and Zach Galifinakis are hilarious. Not as funny as The Hangover but what it?
d. I have also seen Stone and it was not half as good as Due Date. Nonetheless, Ed Norton was awesome like always. The rest of the movie was not that good.
e.As far as television shows go the Roomdog and myself are so far behind it is not even funny. We have seen the first episode of Boardwalk Empire and have about 6 episodes to catch up on. The first episode was awesome and I have only heard good things in following episodes.
f. We just finished the first season of Eastbound and Down and will start on Season 2 soon. That show is out of control. So funny and inappropriate.
g. A couple of weeks ago I drove up to Kentucky for the Dawgs and Cats which turned out to be an awesome weekend. First I got to see Evan which is always a good thing.
h. The second great thing about my trip to the bluegrass was a visit to Keeneland. No trip to Lexington should go without a visit to the track. You have the beautiful horses, the beautiful track and the beautiful women. No better way to spend a day.
i.Who is interested in going to Athens Friday night for some Kinchafoonee Cowboys? Let me know.
j. Whoever can come up with a cool name for this portion of 10 Things will win a prize of some sort.



Quote of The Week (From Last Week)
Come from Clemson coach Dabo Swinney after 10 of his players got stuck in their elevator on the way to the pregame meal on Saturday morning.


“I told the guys to calm down, if we can get 33 miners out of a shaft in Chile we can get 10 football players out of an elevator in Anderson, SC."

On a side note is there really a Division I head football coach with the name Dabo?

Qoute of The Week
From Giants reliever Javier Lopez after the Giants won the World Series "We can shave!"


Tweet of The Week
Like usual we have Eric Stangel to thank for the Tweet of The Week

Congratulations to Celine Dion, who gave birth to twins. Hopefully the crying will drown out her singing...

Picture of The Week
Charles Woodson, Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning hanging out before the 1997 NFL Draft....Peyton, where's your belt? Photo comes from SI Vault.