Headlines

Here are the more interesting headlines from the world of sports along with my thoughts.

NFL

Testaverde back, Pennington and Fiedler gone for Jets
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- Vinny Testaverde was plopped on his couch, watching his beloved New York Jets and, like millions of other fans, could hardly believe his eyes.
In a span of seven plays Sunday, not one but two quarterbacks went down, starter Chad Pennington and backup Jay Fiedler. Out for the season. Both of them, with shoulder injuries.

Patriots confirm safety Rodney Harrison's season is over
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -- New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison will miss the rest of the season with torn ligaments in his left knee.
The Patriots placed Harrison on injured reserve Tuesday, and agent Steve Feldman said the 32-year-old strong safety would have surgery in four to six weeks for a torn anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and posterior cruciate ligament.

Niners place Woods on IR
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- The San Francisco 49ers placed wide receiver Rashaun Woods on injured reserve Tuesday with a thumb injury, ending a second straight disappointing season for the team's former No. 1 draft pick.

Lions' Bryant out for season
ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) -- Detroit Lions cornerback Fernando Bryant is out for the season with a separated right shoulder.
The Lions put Bryant on injured reserve Tuesday and signed wide receiver Scottie Vines, who caught three passes for 51 yards in six games last year for them. Andre Goodman will replace Bryant in the starting lineup Sunday at Tampa Bay.

Bills' Spikes out for season with torn Achilles' tendon
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -- When Buffalo's Takeo Spikes sat on the field in pain and slammed his helmet to the ground, everyone knew something was wrong. When the two-time Pro Bowl linebacker had tears in his eyes while carted to the training room, everyone knew it was serious.
Spikes, who has never missed a game due to injury in his seven-plus NFL seasons, is out for the year with a torn right Achilles' tendon.

Umm, do we have anyone left to play the games? I can’t remember a weekend in the NFL when there where this many season ending injuries to so many start caliber players. This will definitely have an impact on division races particularly in the AFC East where three teams (Bills, Jets, & Patriots) lost key players. You can pretty much erase the Jets from Wild Card contention and pencil in the Dolphins who may not be the best team in the division but as of now are the healthiest.

Clock error adds 52 seconds to Patriots-Steelers game, aids late NE drive
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A clock error added 52 seconds to the fourth quarter of the Patriots-Steelers game Sunday. The extra time aided the Patriots during a winning drive that ended with Adam Vinatieri's 43-yard field goal with 1 second remaining.
The Patriots won 23-20, their fourth victory against the Steelers in five games since 2001, including AFC championship game victories during the 2001 and 2004 seasons.
The NFL acknowledged the mistake Monday, with director of officiating Mike Pereira issuing a statement: ``The on-field officiating crew, which oversees the official game clock operated in the press box, failed to recognize that the clock was improperly reset.''

“Clock-Gate”, this is a bigger deal if the game was in New England. If you get hosed at home by your own clock operator, what do you expect the visiting team to do about it?

MLB

Atlanta Braves Win 14th Straight Division Title

ATLANTA (AP) -- The Atlanta Braves celebrated No. 14 like it was the first. For all those rookies, it was.
With a youthful, joyful exuberance that was there way back in 1991 -- when it all started -- the Braves wrapped up their 14th straight division title on Tuesday night.

They are worse than the Energizer Bunny. They keep going and going and going, until the first round of the play-offs that is. Then they will pull off the disappointing, “How in the world did we lose that series” choke. It’s been fun Braves fans but now it is play-off time and we all know what that means.

Indians, Yankees and Red Sox Deadlocked
My gosh, would someone please pull away here? Boston had the opportunity to pull a half a game ahead of the Yankees but split two games with the Blue Jays and the AL East lead remains tied.

Cleveland had the opportunity to pull within one game of the White Sox but lost to Tampa Bay. TAMPA BAY! When you are trying to pull off the biggest comeback in recent baseball history you can’t go down to the Devil Rays.

All three teams are 92-65 and tied atop the Wild Card standings. Here is my prediction; the Red Sox win the division and the Indians win the Wild Card leaving the Yankees home for the play-offs. Heads will roll in New York!

NBA reschedules preseason games after Hornets' move

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The New Orleans Hornets announced Monday they will play two of their preseason games at their temporary home at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.
The changes will also affect a Seattle SuperSonics-Houston Rockets exhibition game that had been scheduled in Oklahoma City.
The Hornets will play exhibition games in Oklahoma City on Oct. 23, against the Denver Nuggets, and Oct. 27, against Houston. The Nuggets' game had been scheduled for Oct. 24, in New Orleans, and the Rockets' game was originally to be played in Laredo, Texas on Oct. 27.

This is a no-brainer after the franchise has moved to Oklahoma City. It pretty much had to be done. Listen carefully; THIS WILL NOT BE JUST A ONE YEAR MOVE FOR THE HORNETS. The Hornets have already received deposits on more than 7,500 season tickets since making the announcement last week that the team was going to relocate to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina.

Oklahoma City has been dying to prove that they can be a “Big League” market and so far are more than proving it. The deal will be too sweet for the Hornets to pack up and move out after one season. Sorry New Orleans.

NHL
Sorry, I still can’t find anything here worth writing about.

NCAA Football

Tennessee comes back to beat LSU 30-27 in OT

Oklahoma State fans have seen this before. Les Miles sits on a big lead waiting for time to run out and then gets that deer in the headlights look when the other team comes storming back.

Oklahoma fans have seen this before, receivers running free in the secondary because of blown coverage and giving up the big play on Bo Pelini’s defense.

This is a marriage not made in college football heaven. As head coach at Oklahoma State Les Miles did take the Cowboys to three consecutive bowl games and he did beat the Sooners twice, but OSU never finished above 5th in the Big 12 South.

As defensive coordinator Bo Pelini’s complicated schemes in the secondary often led to confusion by defensive backs and big plays made by opposing offenses.

When you combine the two together you get well, you get the 2005 LSU Tigers. Welcome to coaching in the big time Les. Enjoy it while it last.

NASCAR

Aikman and Staubach make first hire

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Hall of Fame Racing made its first hire Tuesday when it tabbed Philippe Lopez to build the NASCAR team owned by former Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.
Lopez was hired as a crew chief, and will be in charge of getting the Nextel Cup team ready to debut next season.
``My first priority is to get the shop up and running,'' Lopez said. ``We are working very closely with Joe Gibbs Racing. That will give us a great advantage right from the start.”

Where else other than in NASCAR can you find Dallas Cowboys working with a Washington Redskin? It’s the healing power of racing.

Nextel Cup Standings


Total Pts Starts Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10 DNF Winnings

1 Jimmie Johnson
5362 Leader 28 2 3 10 17 4 $5,552,236
2 Rusty Wallace
5355 7 28 0 0 8 16 0 $3,976,507
3 Ryan Newman
5350 12 28 6 1 7 12 3 $4,481,361
4 Mark Martin
5341 21 28 0 0 7 14 1 $4,526,193
5 Greg Biffle
5339 23 28 0 5 11 16 1 $4,465,203
6 Tony Stewart
5339 23 28 3 5 13 19 1 $5,675,572
7 Jeremy Mayfield
5281 81 28 0 1 4 8 1 $3,730,838
8 Carl Edwards
5259 103 28 1 2 8 11 1 $3,377,418
9 Matt Kenseth
5238 124 28 1 1 7 12 4 $4,446,811
10 Kurt Busch
5192 170 28 0 3 8 14 3 $5,600,468