The SoapBoxers

Week #1 of the NFL is in the books.  I am writing this prior to the Monday night match-ups, so I will not comment on either of those games here.  Some real interesting items of note in the first week of action:

• New Orleans offense – Who needs defense when you can score at will each and every week.  I realize they were playing the Lions but still a very impressive show by Brees and Company
• Injuries – The Steelers Lose Troy Polamalu for extended time.  The Colts lose their answer to Marvin Harrison, Anthony Gonzalez, for up to six weeks.  Donovan McNabb cracks some ribs and might miss time.  The Bears Lose Brian Urlacher for possibly the remainder of the season.  What do all of these have in common … they are all on my fantasy football teams.
• Adrian Peterson – A monster opener for AP.  Of course the Browns were porous against the run, but nothing makes a good friend to an over the hill, third comeback QB like having the best back in the game behind you to hand it off to 25 times a game.
• Jay Cutler – He is missing having a receiver right now that knows how to run an accurate pass pattern.  The Bears faithful will be hard on him early and often.  Let’s see if he can be a team leader…which is already being questioned a lot by the talking heads on the radio.
• “I Want Winners!” – Mike Singletary and the Niners win the opener against the defending NFC Champion Cardinals on the road.  A nice win for San Francisco.

Tiger Woods vaulted back to the top of the Fed Ex Points race with a runaway win at Cog Hill.  This gives Eldrick five wins on that course in his career as well as a couple of 2nd place finished.  He obviously likes the golf course, but in the same vein it is obvious that win he brings his “A” game, the rest of the field is playing for second place.

Ichiro captured his 9th straight 200 + hit season.  He is the first Major League baseball player to do so.  How tough is this record…..the last person to smack 200 or more base hits for 8 straight seasons was Willie Keeler….from 1894-1901!

Tennis missed a chance at another battle of the titans with Federer and Nadal.  Nadal was promptly retired by Juan Martin del Potro in the Semi’s on Sunday at Flushing Meadows 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.  Del Patro is playing well, but this match up in the final won’t have the same feel as another battle of the current heavyweights of men’s tennis.

Women’s volleyball gets a mention this week as the Huskers fell for the first time in a home match in 90 contests.  The attendance of 13,870 set a new NCAA record for single game attendance for a volleyball match.  The UCLA Bruins won under the great play of tournament MVP Lauren Cook … who just happens to be the daughter of Nebraska Head Coach John Cook.

College football had some exciting games this past weekend as well.  The two biggest games on the national radar were of course the USC vs. Ohio State contest.  Ohio State seems to play very conservative and Pryor looked rattled often during the game.  USC starts an unproven quarterback as well, but being on the road, with a host of young players proved to be the better team on Saturday night.  Ohio State needs to beat a non Big Ten School….and soon.

I am still waiting for Lou Holtz to apologize for his outrageous comment about the Golden Domers making the BCS title game – undefeated.  I mean you have to get by Michigan first … and that shouldn’t be THAT difficult at this point.

Editor’s note: Johnny does get the predictions to me on Thursday, but I like to run this column on Fridays, because of the increased attention to football on Fridays.  Thus, you will see predictions of Thursday night games that have already occurred.

The NFL gets started this week with a battle on Thursday night.

Last week:

Straight Up – 11-4

Against the Spread 10-5

College

Georgia Tech (-5) vs Clemson – The Ramblin Wreck is a team I like this year … Swiney is in over his head this early. Georgia Tech 35- Clemson 14

East Carolina @ West Virginia (-6.5) National talk like a Pirate day is right around the corner. East Carolina 27- WV 24

Iowa (-6.5) @ Iowa State – Hawks escaped last week. This one will be close again – Iowa 24- ISU 21

Fresno State @ Wisconsin (-8) Badgers win, but I think it will be close Wisc 28 – Fresno St 24

USC (-6.5) @ Ohio St – The Buckeyes did not look sharp last week. USC did. OSU never shows up in big games with the vest at the helm. USC 31- OSU 20

Arkansas St @ Nebraska (-24.5) Ark State put up a 62 spot last week. They won’t this week but it will be closer than expected. Neb 38 – Ark State 21

Texas (-33.5) @ Wyoming- This one could get ugly … and should. Texas 56 – Wyoming 10

Syracuse @ Penn State (-28.5) No chance for last minute magic this week for the orange. PSU – 49 – Syracuse – 10

NFL

Tennessee @ Pittsburgh – (-6) A dogfight to start off the year. The Steelers win but in a slugfest. Pitt 14- Tenn 13

Miami @ Atlanta (-4) Sophomore jinx for Matt Ryan? We say … no but Miami 24 – ATL 21

Minnesota (-4) @ CLEVELAND – Welcome back for a third time Bret Favre. Minnesota 31- Cleveland 10

Jacksonville @ INDIANAPOLIS (-7) The Jags always seem to give the Colts fits, and Bob Sanders is out. Colts 20- Jacksonville 17

Detroit @ NEW ORLEANS (-13) I hate taking double digit favorites in the NFL … so I won’t New Orleans 35- Detroit 24

Washington @ NY GIANTS (-6½) Giants need to figure out their passing game. Washington’s defense is improved. NYG – 28 – Washington 20

Chicago @ GREEN BAY (-3½) The NFC Norris Division gets off to one of the best rivalries in the league. Green Bay 24- Chicago 21

Buffalo @ NEW ENGLAND (-10½) Buffalo runs no huddle…T.O. doesn’t like it, they fired their offensive coordinator..and they start against the hoodie. NE 42- Buffalo – 10

San Diego (-9½) @ OAKLAND The Superchargers make a statement early in the season. SD 31- Oak 10

As we stand on the cusp of the Iowa State – Iowa football game this Saturday, I am once again reminded of my unintentionally contrarian nature. During my childhood, I was a fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes, the university that is by far the most popular in the state. When I was 17, I made the decision to attend the rival university in Ames – a decision that was based solely on academic reputation.

At that point, I also switched sports allegiances, and now cheer for Iowa State. After a 15 year losing streak to the Hawkeyes, the Cyclones have held their own in recent years, winning six of the last ten games in the series (and putting up serious fights in some of the losses), including the only regular season blemish on the record of the 2002 Hawkeyes (hah!). A win this Saturday will be great, but no longer is a win against Iowa a season defining moment – instead, it is one more entry in the W column as we march toward bowl eligibility under new coach Paul Rhoads. Quite honestly, a win against Nebraska is twice as important – because it is a conference game.

Staying on the topic of sports, my choice of baseball teams is a bit unusual as well. I’m an Iowa native. The state doesn’t have a major league team, but the Cubs have a substantial following in the state. The Cardinals and White Sox also have large fan bases, followed by a smattering of Twins and Royals fans. The Rockies have, by my count, five fans in the entire state.

For that matter, my sports preferences are also a bit atypical. In an era where the NFL and NASCAR reign supreme, my favorite sports are baseball, luge, and track. At one point, I followed the NBA, mostly because of a player with the initials MJ who wore the numbers 2 and 3 on his jersey. Yep – the “other” MJ – #32, Magic Johnson.

It’s probably a good thing that I wasn’t a fan of Jordan. Otherwise, it might be difficult to explain why I dislike Nikes, and swear by Adidas shoes instead.

My contrarian instincts follow me outside the world of sports as well. In a world dominated by Windows, I have used Apple computers for a quarter century. I happily use a wide variety of web browsers – as long as they are not produced by Microsoft.

Surely food is a sacred area? Nope. I am one of seven people in the entire country who do not consider McDonald’s fries to be “the greatest thing since sliced bread”. I prefer Hardees curly fries, or even Burger King onion rings. In fact, my choice of Hardees as my favorite burger joint is a bit unusual. Of course, until it left town a few years ago, B-Bops was at the top of my list.

It doesn’t get any less contrarian if I eat at home. While I often drink Pepsi due to availability, my favorite soft drink is RC. If I’m going to have a frozen pizza, I will eschew popular brands such as Tombstone and Red Baron for my favorite – Totino’s. Not only is Totino’s one of the few brands that doesn’t trigger my acid reflux, but it has a nice crispy crust – because, of course, I dislike thick crust.

But at least I’m conventional in my choice of salty snacks. Pringles are pretty popular.

Of course, I push aside the regular Pringles in favor of the reduced fat. Is this a health-based decision? Of course not. I actually prefer the flavor …

Ahhhhh Yes …. College Football Season has FINALLY arrived. A great opening week of College football, which as usual, created a lot of excitement, water cooler talk, and for some…a lot of disappointment.

I was totally wrong my apologies go out to Columbia:

Missouri was a little bit impressive to me this past week. The Tigers “system” offense looked sharp while carving up the Illini. Early games are a bit tough to tell, is Mizzou that good, or is Illinois that bad … Still an impressive win for the Tigers who made a statement.

Statement game:

Oklahoma State has been riding the hype wagon and there has been a lot of debate on how coach Gundy has handled the pressure of his team being a novel pick in the Big XII South. They played well in beating a solid opponent in Georgia. A nice early win for the Cowboys.

I told you all so ….

Baylor wins at Wake Forest. The main thing in this game was not just the play of Robert Griffith, but the Bears looked faster than the Deamon Deacons in all aspects of the game. Conference foes better watch out.

Uh Oh … it is worse than we thought!:

Oklahoma showed how much they rely on Heisman trophy winner Sam Bradford, but more discouraging for Sooner fans is the inability to move the football on the ground, even with Bradford out. This looks like a talented team that needs an offensive line to come together, and quickly, or it could be big trouble in Norman this year.

We were looking ahead award:

Dual winners this week are Ohio State who eeked out a win against the Midshipmen of the Naval academy. They need to be a lot better next week against the Trojans in a top 10 match up.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have used up two of their nine lives this year. Looking ahead to Iowa State? I say yes as the Clones have had the better of the match up recently considering that annually the Hawks bring in a much better quality of football team.

Pardon me Seymour …

Richard Seymor, a fixture of the defense that helped the New England Patriots win multiple Super Bowl titles has been traded to the Oakland Raiders. “Sources” indicate that he might not show up in Oakland and is less than amused about being traded. Typically the only ones who want to get traded to the Raiders these days are veterans who are looking for a big payday, folks past their prime, or someone looking for a second chance in a new environment. I don’t think Richard fits any of these descriptions.

Lastly …

This week, the US Open Tennis Tournament continues, with a lot of exciting action. The biggest story without a doubt is the pilgrimage of 17 year old Melanie Oudin’s trip through her side of the draw. The high schooler is the 70th-ranked player which is impressive in its own right. This tournament she has had a slew of wins, all comebacks, against a variety of big names of the sport. No. 4 Elena Dementieva and No. 29 Maria Sharapova as well as No. 13 Nadia Petrova. Can the miracle run continue?

Goodman the Great gives his analysis of this week’s NCAA football games.

Editor’s note: For those who may not be familiar with point spreads, having a negative number next to your team is a good thing. For example, South Carolina @ North Carolina State (-3.5) means that North Carolina State is favored by 3.5 points.

South Carolina @ North Carolina State – (-3.5) The Ol ball coach gets it done in this heated rivalry opener. SC 24, NC St 14

North Dakota State @ Iowa State – (-8.5) The Clones are under a new regime, but they are still a Big XII school. ISU 28, NDSU -10

Oregon @ Boise State (-4.5) Two words…..smurf turf. Boise State 42, Oregon 35

Navy @ THE Ohio State (-22.5) The buckeyes get it rolling early and often on the overmatched Middies – OSU 42,  Navy 17

Georgia @ Oklahoma State (-4.5) I picked the Cowboys as my early surprise of the Big XII…we will see if I am right. OSU 35, Georgia 16

Nevada @ Notre Dame (-17.5) The Golden Domers win, but Nevada covers – ND 35, Nevada 21

Baylor @ Wake Forest (-5.5) A lot of Hype for Robert Griffith. This will determine if it is hype or hoax. Baylor 28, WF 27

Missouri @ Illinois (-5.5) Gone is Maclin, Daniel, Coffman … and the chance to beat Illinois this year. ILL 35,  Mizzou – 21

BYU @ Oklahoma (-21.5) Gresham will miss time, the Cougars are overmatched, but I think it will be closer than you think. OU 42,  BYU 24

Florida Atlantic @ Nebraska (-17.5) The Corn is golden in home openers. Neb 42,FAU 14

LSU (-14.5) @ Washington – Could be a surprise game. High expectations in Baton Rouge … but this is being played elsewhere. LSU 28, Wash 20

Ole Miss (-17.5) @ Memphis – Jevan Snead’s Heisman run begins on Saturday – Ole Miss 42, Memphis 10

Colorado State @ Colorado (-13.5) – Fierce rivalry. Hawkins is on the hot seat, but they get by this week. COL 31, COL St 28

Miami @ Florida State (-4.5) Remember when this was a big game, now it just pads Bobby Bowden’s win totals. FL St, 31 Miami 17

Western Michigan @ Michigan (-11.5) Rich Rodriguez needs a win, and some calmness in the program…I guess they are ready since all the guys have been practicing 80 hours a week. Mich  28, WMU 17

With Johnny Goodman out on assignment, I’m jumping in to bounce around the world of sports.

September Callup Time

Today marks the day when Major League Baseball teams can expand their rosters from 25 players to 40. Not all teams will call up an extra 15 players, though. Calling a player up to the major league starts his service time “clock”, which affects when they will become a free agent. Thus, the short term benefit of having the players in the major leagues for one month can be outweighed by the long term financial benefit of keeping him away from free agency for a full extra year.

However, September typically features the debut of a lot of players who are expected to contribute the following year. The teams get to see how the players adjust to playing major league competition, and the players get to play though a bit of the rookie “yips” in games that often don’t count for a whole lot.

For teams that are in playoff contention, the situation is much different. The expansion of rosters allows teams to add extra hitters to their bench and extra arms to the bullpen – making it possible for the bullpen to pitch more innings than normal in the throes of a pennant race.

On a related note, players acquired before midnight last night are eligible for postseason rosters.  (Confused about the fact that the trade deadline was a month ago?  Players acquired after July 31 must clear waivers first; players acquired earlier do not need to clear waivers.)  The NL West leading Dodgers acquired slugger Jim Thome from the White Sox and starting pitcher John Garland from the Snakes.  The Rockies countered by picking up pitcher Jose Contreras from the White Sox in exchange for prospect Brandon Hynick (a casual Facebook friend of mine).  Advantage to the Dodgers.

Rockies Update

My beloved Rockies just finished what I considered to be a critically important stretch that included seven games against the Giants and three against the division leading Giants. After taking three of four against the Giants, the Rockies took the first game from the Dodgers – pulling to within two games of the division lead in the process. Unfortunately, they lost the final two games of that series before being swept against the Giants in a series in the bay. The Rockies have fallen into a wild card tie with the Giants, setting up the potential for a great September race.

As for my favorite player, Troy Tulowitzki pushed his OPS (on-base-plus-slugging) over 1.000 for August on the strength of a homer and double in his August finale. After a dreadful start to the year, Tulo has record three straight months with a 1.000+ OPS.

Former Rockie Matt Holliday (now with the Cardinals) finished August with “only” a .963 OPS for the month, on the heels of a 1.150 OPS in July. Hidden by the arbitrary nature of the months of the calendar is a 24 game stretch beginning July 20 and ending August 15 in which Holliday posted a 1.355 OPS. While Holliday did manage to hit 7 homers during that stretch, it was the .474 batting average that was a major factor. The tricky thing for the Cardinals is whether or not they will be able to hammer out a new deal with Holliday’s agent, Scott Boras – or whether Holliday will test the free agent waters with a strong non-Coors season under his belt.

NFL

Fantasy Draft season is in full swing. This is a good sign that the NFL season in just around the corner.

On the positive side, we face a year without the “insight” of John Madden.

On the down side, my Minnesota Vikings gave $25 million to sign Brett Favre for two years. I’ve never been a fan of Favre, and his recent off-field antics have served to sour me on him even more. My plan is simply to ignore the NFL until it has been purged of Favre. I have really been focusing on baseball 365 days a year in recently years, anyway, so this should not be a major sacrifice.

College Football

College football also kicks off this weekend, highlighted by Iowa State’s Thursday night game against North Dakota State. I’m hopefully that Thursday’s game will be but the first step in a season that will end with a BCS Championship for my Cyclones.

Or maybe just a bowl.

The University of Michigan is making news for possible NCAA violations. Anonymous current and former players allege that the amount of time Wolverine players spent on football activities exceeded the limits set down by the NCAA. Michigan suffered their first losing season in more than 40 years in 2008, and this news can only be a distraction as they get ready to face Western Michigan in their maiden 2009 contest.

We present a special Wednesday edition of Fiction Friday.

“Remember – twelve and half.”

Buck Schroeder nodded his head and left the diner. He slipped the envelope into the pocket of his jeans as he walked to the parking lot. Half now, half after the game – the same as last year. The money was begging to be spent, so he jumped in his jeep and drove to the electronics store, where he dropped a couple of c-notes on some DVD box sets he’d been wanting to buy.

He took his girlfriend Dana out for supper at one of the better steak houses in town. Buck loved the start of football season. Not only did it allow him to be the big man on campus, but the money from the payoffs helped him live a better lifestyle than he could afford in the off season.

Buck fell asleep that night reading his playbook. This was a critical early season test for the Jackals. The Cougars were much improved from last year. It was even possible that Buck wouldn’t have to shave any points to keep the margin of victory below the Vegas line of 12 ½ points.

The next morning, Schroeder headed to the dorm’s soundproof music room and hammered out a few tunes on the piano. It was a tradition that dated back to junior high, and it had served him well. There was nothing like a bit of Beethoven to get his competitive juices flowing.

Buck joined his team for pregame breakfast and indulged another ritual, scarfing down four eggs, three slices of toasts, two large glasses of orange juice, and seventeen slices of bacon. Although the medical community was skeptical about the energizing power of bacon, Schroeder was a true believer.

Before long, the Jackals were taking the field in front of a raucous crowd at Morgan Memorial Stadium. Down on the field, Buck could feel the vibrations emanating from the fans inside the great bowl of the stadium. The fans sensed the importance of the game.

The Jackals received the opening kickoff. Buck dissected the Cougar defense, completing all seven passes on the drive, eventually hitting Nate Gustafson on a fade route in the corner of the end zone for the first score of the game. The scored remained 7-0 until the first drive of the second quarter, when Jackals scatback Troy Maddux found the end zone from twelve yards away to put the Jackals up by two touchdowns.

The Cougars drove deep into Jackals territory on the next drive, before faltering toward the end and settling for a short field goal. The Cougars once again drove into Jackals territory late in the second quarter. The clock became their enemy, and they eventually had to call a timeout and bring on their field goal kicker for a an impossibly long 59 yard field goal – which he promptly drilled right between uprights to draw the Cougars to within 14-6 as the first half clock elapsed.

Schroeder hooked up with speedy wideout Sean Warren on a fifty yard strike early in the third quarter to put the Jackals ahead 21-6. At this point, Schroeder began to lose a bit of touch on his passes, ostensibly because of a hit he absorbed from one of the Cougar defenders. In truth, however, he needed to have the Cougars pull back to within 12 ½ points.

Two Cougars field goals made the score 21-12 as the clock began ticking down in the fourth quarter. Buck needed only to manage the game a bit in order to win the game while also keeping the winning margin below the point spread. On a third and ten from the fifty yard line, he threw an inaccurate pass in the general vicinity of Nate Gustafson. A stunned Schroeder watched as Gustafson adjusted his route as the ball was thrown, apparently sensing that the ball would be thrown too far toward the far sideline. Gustafson grabbed the ball off his shoe tops, dodged a defender, switched directions, and accelerated into high gear, leaving an army of Cougars defender in his wake.

Schroeder had difficulty watching, as the Cougars fought to get back into the game. A field goal would not do them much good at this point in the game – nor would it do much good for Schroeder, who needed to see the sixteen point lead erode by more than the value of a sole field goal.

The Cougars quarterback dinked and dunked down the field. The Cougars were inside the five yard line as precious time was eaten up. The Jackals defense held strong three times, before finally yielding on a fourth and goal from within the one yard line. The Cougars then proceeded to pound the ball back into the end zone on the two point conversion attempt.

Thirty seconds remained in the game. With the Cougars within eight points, every fan in the stadium expected an onside kick. The Jackals sent the “hands team” onto the field, and Buck breathed a sigh of relief. The Jackals simply had to recover the onside kick and then have Schroeder take a few snaps to run out the remaining clock and preserve an eight point win.

The ball popped into the air and was grabbed by reserve receiver Jeff Casey. Instead of falling to the ground to down the ball, the lead footed Casey took off down the sideline. The rest of the Jackals raced downfield to block for Casey and the senior walk-on waddled into the end zone for the first touchdown of his career.

Buck Schroeder winced as the scoreboard flashed the score of 34-20. The PAT was added to make it a fifteen point difference.

The Cougars attempted a hook-and-ladder on the ensuing kickoff, making it as far as the Jackals forty yard line before the ball carrier was tackled, ending the game, and putting Buck Schroeder’s part time job in jeopardy.

An exciting week in sports this week. I am still resting up from my trip to the Solheim Cup, and I am sure you are all ready to read something other than another golf article, so I will just touch on some golf briefly and move on.

Golf

A real win for the LPGA this week with a win for the United States Team in the Solheim Cup. It might have well spelled a coming out party for Michelle Wie, who along with Paula Creamer were clearly the stars of the US team. Wie went an impressive 3-0-1 in her four matches played. It is too easy to forget she is still very young has it seems like she has already been playing forever.

Sergio Garcia sees another opportunity slip by as he extinguishes a late lead on Sunday in yet another tournament. And what is up with the rugged bearded look Sergio? Go back to the clean shaven Michelob Poster Boy look, it is much better for you and I am sure your many sponsors would agree with that assessment.

Baseball

C.C. Sabathia became the majors first 15 game winner of 2009 as the Yankees continued to dominate over the Boston Red Sox. No love in Beantown right now as the Yanks have built an impressive lead and seem to be firing on all cylinders. The Yankees now have a huge 7 ½ game in the division … just a few months ago it seemed like this was totally out of the question for this year.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Pete Rose’s lifetime ban from baseball. What I have always found fascinating about the Rose lifetime ban is that very few people are on the fence with an opinion. You either think Pete Rose should or should not be in the Hall of Fame. Even current Hall members are on different sides of the issue. There is no disputing however that the all time hit leader has some statistical support in many categories that warrant a spot in Cooperstown, only time will tell if the decision of Bart Giamatti is ever overturned.

Football

Brett Favre is back …. again …. I think I would un-retire for a cool twenty five million dollars over two years. The Vikings have the running game, they have the defense, I am not sure they have the receivers. All the Vikings really need to do is to manage the game offensively. This could be a huge year for Adrian Peterson if he stays healthy.

Latest line from Vegas….over/under for number of times the new “JerryTron” 60 yard long High Definition Jumbo screen gets hit by punts at the new Dallas Cowboy stadium this year….14 ½.

And finally …

The crazy comment of the week:

Lou Holtz makes a bold post season prediction for the BCS Title game. “ I personally believe, if you ask me, ‘Who’s going to play in the national championship game?’ I’d say it’s going to be Florida and the University of Notre Dame. They return 11 starters on offense. They return all three running backs, the two best wide receivers, they have a great defense coming back.”

And to think …. ESPN pays this guy …. wow.

Until next week … Good Luck with your last minute Fantasy Football drafts!

So three things caught my attention this week that I feel are worth sharing. They range from comical to serious, so enjoy!

The Pursuit of Knowledge

So it often works out that when I am eating lunch, my television is tuned to Trivial Pursuit: America Plays hosted by Christopher Knight. I have always enjoyed Trivial Pursuit, so I find watching it on television to still be entertaining but also educational. I have seen before on other shows such as Jeopardy questions asked of Americans about basic Canadian facts only to see them completely mess up the answer. Well today’s question was “What province is Halifax the capital of?” Well only one of the participants had the bravery to provide an answer. His answer was “Ontarrrio”. Notice that his answer wasn’t Ontario (pronounced On-tear-e-o) but On-tar-e-o. Of course this is incorrect. I was actually surprised he chose this province, as the capital of Ontario is Canada’s biggest and most famous city, Toronto. I know it’s funny, but at the same time I do admit that I do not know all of the State capitals, so perhaps I should shut my mouth. I did end up feeling smarter than the contestants of the show though, as I knew the state capital of Ohio was Columbus while both of them did not (first guess Cleveland, second guess Cincinnati). Oh and by the way, Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia.

Michael Vick Soars Again

Many people have heard of Michael Vick, whether they are a fan of the NFL or not. Well Michael is now officially back in the NFL, having signed a two year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. When it comes to strictly improving your football team, this is a good move. He will have to shake off a fair bit of rust, but can slide comfortably into the backup role behind Donovan McNabb while he gets back into game shape. The only question is how this will affect the team in terms of its image. As a pet owner, I was as disgusted as anyone for what he did. While he did serve his time and pay his debt to society, I still really find myself despising him. I work with people with intellectual disabilities and even they know better than Vick when it came to what he did with those dogs. I personally hope his career is over and that he is heckled thoroughly everywhere he goes. This is one I just can’t get my head past.

Tim Horton’s

I don’t know what there is in the States to match this franchise. Dunkin Donuts perhaps? Tim Horton’s is a symbol of Canada like no other. It is our favourite place to have a coffee and donut. The franchise has actually expanding into a few northern States as well. Every morning drive-thru lines are packed, and lineups go out the doors as people will do anything to “get their Timmies”. Many people have bumper stickers to this effect. This week though, Tim’s got some publicity it didn’t want, as it was apparently a sponsor of a big anti-gay festival in Rhode Island. After news of this got out, they pulled out their support, claiming it was just one specific franchise owner in the area. This was definitely the right move, as many Canadians are open to gay marriage and full gay rights and the backlash up here would have been strong. I give kudos to the franchise for acting quickly to get this mess straightened out. On another note, I don’t see myself visiting Providence anytime soon.  

Golf

The big news of the week is not the fact that yours truly shot a career low round of 67 this past week … it instead is the fourth golf major of the year on the PGA tour.

This week Hazeltine hosts the 91st PGA Championship. I have been one to pick Tiger Woods in all of the majors this year and he is a smooth 0-3. So I will go with someone else. Camillo Villegas is my pick for the week.

Tiger does have an interesting statistic in his quest for a major this year. He has one each of the tournaments he played in BEFORE playing in a major this year … the pre Major Grand Slam if you will.

He has 14 Majors in 248 career starts. This also includes 70 tour victories. Jack Nicklaus at the same point in his career had 9 major wins and 41 tour victories…amazing.

Next Week the Solheim Cup will take place in Sugar Grove Illinois. Johnny Goodman will be present with Mrs. Goodman checking out the action as the members of the US team take on the European contingent. This will be my first venture to an international type of tournament and I hope to bring some photos to an article in a couple of weeks.

Cornhusker Football

The family all went to the annual “Fan Day” at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln Nebraska this past week. This is the day where all the players and coaches are available for the mass throngs of husker faithful to sign autographs, take pictures, high five one another … and stand in long long lines. I took my 3 1/2 year old son to this event and he had the time of his life. It is nice to see college athletes taking time to meet the community and sign autographs for the kids. One of the best things at the event was a player who was having each of the kids sign his name sheet which was located on the table in front of him. When I asked him why he was doing this he said ” because one day one of these kids will end up being a college football player … and I can say I have one of their first autographs”

Baseball

The Yankees swept the Red Sox this past weekend to vault into first place in the American League East. Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies hit for the cycle … was it preferred scoring on a bobbled ball by Alfonso Soriano … should it have instead been ruled a double with an extra base error …. too late now … but I know the head of The Soap Boxers is happy ….

SuitGate

Too much is being made of the “technology” which is being used to make swimming times faster. The high tech suits allow for easier buoyancy and well as alarmingly faster times. What happened to the good ol days of Mark Spitz and the Moustache? Can we all just wear the trunks and goggles and see who is fastest? I wish tennis would go back to wood rackets as well. It would show who is the most talented, not just necessarily who has the best equipment.

And finally for the parting shot this week. Fantasy Football drafts are just around the corner. Send your thoughts to me here and I will be sure to include any tid bits of your wisdom in a column for next week in the sports wrap up.