Preliminary play is underway in Vancouver and Team Russia is looking to erase more than two decades of frustration as they seek a gold medal performance here in the 2010 Winter Olympics after a string of disappointments.

In the ten Winter Olympiads spanning from 1956 to 1992, Russia was dominant. Under the old USSR regime, they won eight gold medals in that span, derailed just twice. Both times came at the hands of the Americans, in 1960 and of course the Miracle on Ice in 1980. They took silver in 1960 and bronze in 1980, giving them medals in ten straight Olympic games in the sport, after not fielding a team until 1956.

Tougher times have followed for the Motherland since in the four Olympic Games since Albertville in 1992. Russia has found the podium just twice in those four years, winning the silver in 1998 and the bronze in 2002. A fourth place finish in Torino in 2006 ended with a dull thud as the Czech Republic blanked them 3-0 to claim the bronze.

With one of the most talented collections of forwards the game has ever seen on one bench Russia looks to wipe the bad taste of failure from their mouths and live up to their number one overall ranking from the IIHF.

TEAM RUSSIA OLYMPIC ROSTER

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Evgeni Nabokov raised his mark in international play to 11-2-0 with a win over Latvia.

The Russians boast a talented if not enigmatic trio of netminders as they look to topple powerhouses such as Canada and Sweden.

Evgeni Nabokov will most likely be the starting netminder for Russia. Nabokov has international experience as he played originally for Kazakhstan in 1994 at the World Championships.

This will be his second Olympics as he also took part in the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy for Russia.

He was also a member of the gold medal winning 2008 World Championship team where he was named best goaltender. He has been stellar in international play, posting an 11-2-0 mark in 13 outings with a 1.46 GAA and five shutouts.

Ilya Bryzgalov is more than capable of stepping in should Nabokov falter. He backstopped Russia to a second consecutive World Championship gold in 2009. In that competition Bryzgalov went 7-0-0 with a 2.09 GAA, one shutout and a save percentage of 92.9 percent.

This will be Bryzgalov’s third Olympics, as he was also a member of the 2002 team that won bronze. He’d like to see more action than the combined one game he’s played in his first two Olympics.

Semyon Varlamov is the third goaltender and most likely the netminder of the future for Russia. He is just coming back from a long layoff after an injury. His start last Thursday against Ottawa was his first since a shutout of Tampa Bay back on December 7th, 2009. He has a pair of silver medals from the World Junior Championships in 2006 and 2007, and will be the youngest player on Team Russia by two years of age.

ON THE BLUELINE

Andrei Markov looks to be the rock that Russia needs on the blueline.

Russia has a mix of NHL and KHL players on the blueline with plenty of experience necessary to shut down opposing teams.

There is a mix of both NHL and KHL players comprising the defense corps, and coach Slava Bykov is not hurting when it comes to talent.

Andrei Markov would have to be considered the anchor of the blueline for Russia. He seems to be fully recovered from a lacerated ankle he suffered back in October and has 45 games of World Cup and Olympic experience to draw from.

Throw in thirteen games of World Junior Championship experience when Russia won silver and bronze in 1997 and 1998 and Markov is a solid leader on the ice.

He will be making his second Olympic appearance, though he does have two bronze and a gold medal to his credit from his last three World Cup appearances.

Sergei Gonchar is a seasoned veteran as well that will be expected to log heavy minutes and provide leadership to the Russian blueline.

Gonchar has 43 games of international experience and will be making his fourth Olympic appearance. He won a silver medal in the 1998 Olympics and bronze in 2002. He also was a member of the Stanley Cup champion Penguins last season. He is an offensive defenseman that can really run a power play.

The complete counter to Gonchar would be Anton Volchenkov. Where Gonchar is flash and dash, joining the rush to tip the offensive scales in favor of his team, Volchenkov is a stay at home defenseman.

He is consistently among the league leaders in blocked shots and is considered one of the toughest players in the league. He has won gold at the World Junior Championships, plus gold and silver at the World Cup. This will be his second Olympic appearance in his career.

Dmitri Kalinin, Fedor Tyutin, Denis Grebeshkov, Ilya Nikulin and Konstantin Korneyev will all be battling for their fair share of playing time as well. The first three have had a fair amount of NHL experience, while the latter two have both participated on Russia’s last three World Cup teams, winning two gold and one bronze medal.

CRASHING THE NET

Alexander Ovechkin leads what should be a high powered Russian offense that also features Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk.

Russia has a collection of firepower that may be unrivaled by any other country in the tournament.

The three nominees for the Hart Trophy which is awarded to the Most Valuable Player in the NHL were all Russians. They could easily be lighting the lamp at will with such a group.

The Russians are led by the aforementioned trio consisting of Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk. Those three combined for an impressive 123 goals and 197 assists for 320 points in the 2008/09 season.

Ovechkin is the ultimate sniper, leading the NHL in goals the past two seasons with 65 and 56 respectively.  He is extremely dangerous and can score from anywhere on the ice.

He already has tallied 42 times in 54 games so far this season while becoming a more complete offensive player as evidenced by his 47 assists.

He also is the only player in NHL history to win the Hart, Pearson, Art Ross and Rocket Richard trophies in the same season.

He has a gold and two bronze medals from World Championship play and will make his second Olympic appearance. In 48 international games Ovechkin has tallied 25 goals and tacked on 15 assists.

Malkin is a smooth skating playmaker who has one thing Ovechkin doesn’t have on his resume: a Stanley Cup. Malkin won the Art Ross Trophy with his 113 point campaign in 2008/09 then posted 36 points in 24 playoff games to help the Penguins dethrone the Detroit Red Wings in seven games to win the Cup.

That performance also earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy for Most Valuable Player in the playoffs. He has two bronze medals from World Championship play and will be making his second Olympic appearance as well. In 32 international games Malkin has tallied 10 goals and 19 assists.

Datsyuk is a tough competitor who can play both ends of the ice and make things happen. This will be his third Olympic Games as he was a member of the bronze winning team in 2002 and then the 2006 team as well. In 41 international games he has 7 goals and 21 assists to his credit. While he hasn’t played for his home country since 2006 Datsyuk is coming off back to back 97 point seasons in Detroit.

Only on a team with talent like the trio mentioned above would Ilya Kovalchuk be the equivalent of an afterthought. Kovalchuk is deadly when he shoots the puck as evidenced by two 50 goal and three 40 goal seasons to his credit going into this season. His recent trade to New Jersey will give him a chance at postseason experience which is something he lacked in Atlanta.

He has 32 goals and 63 points so far this season. In 66 games of international play, he has 25 goals and 27 assists for a total of 52 points. 2010 marks his third Olympic Games and he has been a member of the last three World Championships.

Young studs like Alexander Radulov and Alexander Semin will see time with long time NHL veterans like Sergei Fedorov, Maxim Afinogenov and Viktor Kozlov. KHL players Sergei Zinojev, Danis Zaripov and team captain Aleksey Morozov round out the forwards.

MEDAL OUTLOOK

Team Russia looks to win its first Olympic gold since 1992 when it was the Unified team.

The Russians hope to erase the frustration that has plagued them since the demise of the old Soviet Union.

They have tasted gold but once in the Olympics since 1988 and won just three World Championships since 1992.

It would be difficult to foresee any team being able to win a high scoring shootout with the Russians, allowing them to take a few chances offensively.

Teams will have a difficult time shutting down the lines that Russia can roll out there.

This may well be the best chance for them to regain the throne that they dominated for the better part of four decades in their glory days.  I would expect them to take the gold and finish no worse than silver.

As preliminary pool play for men’s hockey begins in earnest during the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Swedish national team comes to western Canada with swagger and focus.  The Swedes are the defending gold medal winners, knocking off arch rival Finland in the gold medal game in Torino back in 2006.

Former NHL players Mats Naslund and Bengt-Åke Gustafsson are intent on keeping Sweden on top here in Vancouver.  The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) currently has them ranked third behind Russia and Canada.  Expect Sweden to do whatever they can in order to try and repeat as gold medalists when all is said and done on February 28th.

The rosters are frozen now, as the deadline for replacing and swapping out players has passed.  That means the names you see here are the ones you’ll see on the Team Sweden roster when they kick off preliminary play on February 17th against Germany.

TEAM SWEDEN OLYMPIC ROSTER

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Henrik Lundqvist looks to continue his strong play from the 2006 Winter Games in Torino.

Sweden returns two of the three goaltenders that they had when they won the gold medal in Torino four years ago.

Henrik Lundqvist, Jonas Gustavsson and Stefan Liv are the trio of netminders that Gustafsson will have at his disposal to deploy.

While the talent base or pedigree may not be as deep as that of what the Canadian team has, the depth and experience factors give them an advantage over the Americans. and most of the other competitors.

Lundqvist did the majority of the heavy lifting when it came to the 2006 Olympics, and would have to be expected to be shouldering the load in Vancouver as well.

He went 5-1 with a .917 save percentage in Torino, allowing just twelve goals in those contests.

Throw in a pair of silver medals in 2003 and 2004 at the World Championships, and he is more than capable of backstopping his team to gold again in Vancouver.

Liv was in Torino with Lundqvist in 2006, and has plenty of international experience to boot.  While he has never logged an NHL minute he has been solid in Swedish Elite League play, with 29 shutouts in 308 starts entering this season.

He also has been a member of four medal winning World Championship teams.  Sweden took bronze in 2002 and 2009, silver in 2004 and gold in 2006 with him as a member of the roster.  He has enough talent and skill to step in if needed.

Gustavsson is solid depth and it is uncertain how much playing time he’ll actually get.  He was dominant in the 2008/09 campaign in the Swedish Elite League when he posted a miniscule 1.03 GAA in 13 playoff games to go with a .961 save percentage and five shutouts.  He has yet to be that solid in Toronto in the NHL but still has plenty of time to recognize his upside.

ON THE BLUELINE

Nicklas Lidström leads an experienced group of blueliners into Vancouver.

While the Americans and Canadians have gone with more of a youth movement on the blueline to try and have fresher legs on the ice, Sweden has decided to deal the experience card.

Three of the top defensemen from that 2006 team will be back in Vancouver to help Lundqvist in their own zone.

When it comes to experience one would be hardpressed to find a player with more of it than Nicklas Lidström.  Lidström has four Stanley Cups and six Norris Trophies to his credit.

He has medals from three World Championships:  gold in 1991, bronze in 1994 and silver in 2004 to go with the gold medal from the 2006 Olympics.

Throw in a pair of World Cup of Hockey appearances, and the fact that this is his FOURTH Olympic Games, and you can see the wealth of knowledge he has in his head.

That alone can help a team when it comes to crunch time and dealing with the tendencies and actions of their opponents.

Also back for another run at Olympic gold is Mattias Öhlund.  Öhlund will be taking part in his fourth Olympics as well in Vancouver.  He also has three medals from the World Junior Championships, and three from World Championships action.  He also played in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, and has 69 games of international experience, with 21 of those from the World Junior Championships.

The third defenseman back for another Olympic run is Niklas Kronwall.  Kronwall replaced Öhlund after he suffered fractured ribs in a game against Switzerland during the 2006 Olympics.  Kronwall had originally been selected but removed himself from consideration as he was rehabbing a knee injury at the time.

He has two medals from World Championship play and is one of just eight players to win gold medals in the Olympics and the World Cup in the same year.  His time with Detroit, especially in the playoffs the last two seasons will be a big boost for his confidence.

The rest of the blueline for Sweden is solid, if not spectacular.  Magnus Johansson returns for another run of international play.  He’s appeared in six World Championships, and he is one of the most prolific scoring defensemen in Swedish Elite League history.  Add in NHLers like Johnny Oduya, Doug Murray, Henrik Tallinder and Tobias Enström, and there is more than enough talent in their own zone.

CRASHING THE NET

Peter Forsberg looks for one last moment in the spotlight after recovering from a serious foot injury.

Once again Sweden deviates from the pattern of the Americans and the Canadians, going with experience over youth.  Only three of the dozen forwards representing the country are under 26.

Three of the forwards that will be the anchors of the offensive attack are 35 and older, with five others turning 30 later this year.  Ten of the twelve are playing in the NHL this season.

Most likely the biggest concern for the Swedes will be if they can find the right line combinations in order to put the puck in the net.  It can be tough to find the right matchps, especially in a short time window with which to work with.

Coach Gustafsson will need to put on his thinking cap in order to align things properly before the medal round if a repeat is to be in the cards.

Daniel Alfredsson is arguably one of the most recognizable names of the forwards.  Now 37, Alfredsson still can play with the best of them.  He’s appeared in an astounding 70 international games for Sweden, covering 12 different events.

This will be his fourth Olympics, and judging from his performance in prior appearances (20 points, including 8 goals in 16 games), he’s more than ready to play.    He has two bronze and two silver medals from World Championship appearances to his credit as well.

Peter Forsberg is back for one last hurrah most likely in international competition.  Foppa, as he is known affectionately, spurned the NHL this season after having serious foot issues and is playing for Modo in the Swedish Elite League.  This is his third Olympics, winning gold in Lillehammer in 1994 and then again in Torino in 2006.

Throw in a bronze in the World Cup in 1996, along with two gold and three silver medals in the World Championships, along with his NHL pedigree, and you know that Forsberg will leave it all out on the ice.  Even with the foot injury that cost him time and at his advanced age (he’ll turn 37 in July), he is still extremely gifted with the puck.

Henrik Zetterberg will also be a key cog in the Sweden offensive wheel.  After winning two bronze, a silver and a gold medal in the World Championships, he added gold in Torino back in 2006.

This will be his third Olympic Games, and being one of just 22 players in history to hold World Championship gold, Olympic gold and a Stanley Cup title to his credit, Zetterberg is a fine leader and complimentary player to Forsberg and Alfredsson on the ice.

The Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik will also be major cogs in the Swedish attack.  Mix in youth like Nicklas Backstrom, Loui Eriksson and Patric Hörnqvist with Fredrik Modin, Johan Franzén, Mattias Weinhandl and Samuel Påhlsson and you have a group that any coach would love to ice on a regular basis.   Expect to see Påhlsson in a lot of penalty killing situations, as he is a top notch defensive forward.

MEDAL OUTLOOK

Team Sweden has high hopes for a repeat gold medal performance in Vancouver.

For a team that won gold in 2006, the Swedes didn’t do much to hurt their chances for a repeat performance.

While they have fallen to third in the IIHF rankings, they have enough veteran leadership and mettle to survive the battles that lie ahead.

The team has talent top to bottom with plenty of players that have been around long enough to know how things work.

The biggest competition for the Swedes will be Russia and Canada.  If Lundqvist can keep the puck out of the net while Alfredsson and company score timely goals, they’ll have a shot at repeating.

Worst case scenario, I can’t see them finishing with anything less than the bronze.  There simply is too much experience in the international arena for Tre Kronor to fall short of the medal podium here in 2010.

By the time they unfreeze following the Olympics teams will have just 63 hours before the trade deadline hits to make any further moves.  This short window makes right now a busy time for everyone across the league.

There are a fair number of teams that are already rebuilding or stocking up for a playoff run.  There are still quite a few names that are rumored to be on the trade block, with teams figuring out if they are to be buyers or sellers.

With a limited time with which to work with, General Managers are scrambling over one another to find the right combination of assets to deal away to improve their team’s standing.  Will it pay off, or will it blow up in their faces when all is said and done?

Today we’re going to take a look at a few deals that went down this weekend, and profile some names that very well may change jerseys before the deadline comes and goes.  Whether a team is looking for a superstar or a grinder, a prospect or a pile of draft choices, phones will be ringing off the hook the next few weeks.

Done Deals

Flames Deal with Leafs to Try and Douse Losing Ways

Dion Phaneuf brings a hard hitting, gritty style to Toronto, something the Leafs desperately need.

The Calgary Flames were a team expected to contend in the tough Northwest Division.

However, a nine game losing skid and a 3-9-3 mark in their last fifteen games forced a shakeup in Alberta.

Two of the brothers of hockey’s first family, the Sutters, made a blockbuster deal with the floundering Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Leafs have seen another season hit the proverbial shredder, as they’ll miss the postseason again.

Going west are forwards Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, and Jamal Mayers along with defenseman Ian White.  Coming back to Toronto are the cornerstone of the deal, Dion Phaneuf, along with Fredrik Sjostrom and prospect Keith Aulie.

Production wise, it would seem the Leafs gave up two of their top forwards, but Stajan is not a top center and Hagman is inconsistent in his production at best.  Still, when you aren’t lighting the lamp you need to make changes.

The big key for Toronto is the acqusition of Phaneuf, who is a throwback defenseman who isn’t afraid to use the body or his fists to make a play.  He helps solidify the blueline corps of the Leafs, and is under contract for the next four seasons following this one.

Meanwhile, Calgary takes on two players (Stajan and Mayers) who are unrestricted free agents at the end of the season and a third (White) who is a restricted one.  This doesn’t seem to be the greatest of strategies, going with a short term attempted solution to a problem.  EDGE:  Leafs

Leafs Pluck Ducks Off a Pond

Jean-Sebastian Giguere has posted back to back shutouts in his first two starts for the Leafs.

Not done by any stretch of the imagination, Toronto GM Brian Burke made a deal with the team he formerly worked for, the Anaheim Ducks.

In that trade, he moved underachievers Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake in exchange for goaltender Jean-Sebastian Giguere, who was rotting in Anaheim.

Burke helped himself here by getting rid of two dead weights with one movement, and adding some value.

Toskala’s play had fallen off dramatically since coming to Toronto, with his save percentage dropping a full three points and his goals against up nearly a full goal per contest since 2007-08.

Blake never lived up to expectations after signing a fat contract.  He potted 40 goals for the Islanders in his final season with them, but put up just 52 in two and a half seasons with the Leafs.  That’s not the kind of production you want from a $4 million player.

Giguere helps the Leafs goaltending situation for the next year and a half while he is under contract and should be a good mentor for rookie netminder Jonas Gustavsson.

He paid immediate dividends Tuesday night, where he blanked the New Jersey Devils 3-0, snapping the Leafs five game losing skid.  Unless Randy Carlyle can get more out of Blake and Toskala than Ron Wilson this deal is a no brainer too.  EDGE:  Leafs

Rangers Bring Jokinen to Broadway

Olli Jokinen failed to measure up in Calgary. Can he succeed under the harsh New York light?

Eleven months ago, Olli Jokinen was considered the piece that was going to put the Flames over the top in the Western Conference, or at least get past the first round of the playoffs.

He lit the lamp eight times in his first six games wearing a Calgary uniform, then vanished off the page.

He didn’t score his final thirteen games in the regular season.  While he had two goals and five points in the first round of the playoffs, the Flames were still vanquished in six games.

Jokinen’s numbers didn’t improve any this season, as he tallied just 11 goals in 56 games before being traded to the New York Rangers along with Brandon Prust.

The Rangers have been desperate for a goal scorer and hope that being in the limelight can rejuvenate Jokinen’s career.  It may

In exchange, Christopher Higgins, himself a disappointment after being the centerpiece of a deal that sent Scott Gomez to Montreal goes back to Calgary.  Ales Kotalik, who has bounced a few places since last year’s deadline, heads west as well.

It will be interesting to see if a change of scenery helps any of those involved as they all have underachieved on their respective franchises.  I’m not sold that either team really makes out on this deal as it appears to be an exchange of mismatched parts.  I reserve judgment at the moment until we see what transpires down the home stretch.  EDGE:  Even.

Faces Expected to Move

Ilya Kovalchuk Seeks Greener Pastures

Kovalchuk forced his way out of Atlanta and into a Cup contender with New Jersey.

With the Atlanta Thrashers struggling again it is no surprise that Ilya Kovalchuk is the hottest commodity on the trade market.

After all, who wouldn’t want someone that can score seemingly at will?  There are quite a few teams who are lacking in game breaking goal scorers.

He’s tallied at least 41 goals in each of the past five seasons, and put up 31 so far this year in just 49 games so far in 2009/10, putting him on pace for 50.

He’s a deadly sniper that posts more than a point per game over his career to date, and he’s only 26 years old.

While he is a free agent after the season, teams will do what it takes to add him to the fold.  Teams will be lining up to throw truckloads of cash Kovalchuk’s way if he isn’t locked down.

There is no shortage of suitors for Kovalchuk’s services and the star winger has been informed with certainty he’ll be traded according to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Los Angeles Kings are expected frontrunners for Kovalchuk, as they have a solid young nucleus and the cash available under the cap to acquire him.  Speculation also swirls around New Jersey and Philadelphia while Boston and Vancouver are on the fringes.

Rumor has it that the deal could be done as soon as this weekend.   Atlanta is at the point where they have no choice but to deal him away and hope that they get a decent enough return on their investment.  Don Waddell is under the gun with Kovalchuk just as he was with Marian Hossa in 2008.

UPDATE: Kovalchuk was dealt last night to the New Jersey Devils along with defenseman Anssi Salmela.  In exchange, Atlanta received defenseman Johnny Oduya, forwards Niclas Bergfors and Patrice Cormier, and a first round pick.  The teams also exchanged second round selections.

Marty Turco:  A Star Waiting to Fall?

Stars goaltender Marty Turco could really help a team down the stretch.

On the goalie front, there are always teams that need a solid netminder to spell their number one.

There are even fluid goaltending situations where goalies are 1 and 1A like there was in Carolina a few years ago with Arturs Irbe and Cam Ward.

Marty Turco has seen the peaks and valleys as a goalie in the NHL over his career.  What he isn’t used to is wondering if he’s going to be traded.

Currently Turco is splitting time with Alex Auld in Dallas, a place that he has spent his entire career.

While he has seen more action than Auld, he’s five years older (34 to Auld’s 29), and is far more expensive (a $5.7 million cap hit as opposed to Auld’s $1 million.)

With teams in need of a solid second goaltender, or a veteran presence, it is highly possible that Turco could be moved before the deadline.  The question is which particular team might be interested in acquiring his services.

Buffalo could use Turco though they would want to unload salary in order to make the deal work.  Patrick Lalime simply doesn’t cut it and with the hard charging Senators on a roll (winners of 10 straight), it might force Darcy Regier’s hand to make a move.

One other team that could use a veteran goaltender is the Kings.  They have two quality young goalies in Jonathan Quick and Erik Ersberg, but they have a combined zero games of postseason experience.

Will a Hurricane blow Ray Whitney Out of Carolina?

Whitney's offensive talents and leadership could help a contender.

One of the most high profile rental players on the market is Ray Whitney of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Whitney is a long time veteran of the ice wars as a seventeen year veteran and 1046 career games to his credit.

He also has taken part in 83 postseason contests in which he has tallied 18 goals and 43 points.

A good veteran forward who is a leader and a good locker room presence is something always in demand.

Whitney has proven to be productive even in his later years, as he posted 77 points in 82 games last season, then added 11 more points in 18 playoff games.

Even this season on a struggling Carolina team, he has posted 16 goals and 25 assists for 41 points in 54 contests.  Teams needing a shot in the arm would be wise to consider Whitney.

There is no lack of suitors for him at this point.  Teams that are pursuing Whitney include the Montreal Canadiens, the Los Angeles Kings and the Boston Bruins, a team that has been floundering badly of late.

The Canadiens are suffering on the front line especially with the loss of Mike Cammalleri and could use someone like Whitney to make an impact.  The Habs have no active player with more than 14 goals.

Boston has struggled with injuries to Patrice Bergeron and Marco Sturm along with the disappointing season from Michael Ryder.  Peter Chiarelli has made him available too though it is unclear if anyone will take on his salary.

The Kings could use a solid play making forward to help take the pressure off the young players like Anze Kopitar and Alexander Frolov.  Adding Whitney could make sense as a stabilizing force with a Kings team that is still very young in its nucleus.

With the deadline approaching it will be interesting to see what teams bolster their teams for a deep postseason run.  If past seasons are any indication expect a flurry of movement in the coming days before the Olympic freeze and then the actual deadline on March 3rd.  We’ll keep you informed as deals and details become known.

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver are just over a week away and all eyes will be riveted on Canada Hockey Place for the men’s Olympic hockey championships.

Teams from twelve countries spanning the globe will do battle to try and claim the gold medal for their respective nations.  The teams representing the USA, Canada, Sweden and Russia will be loaded with NHL talent and should be considered the odds on favorites to medal.  The Czech Republic and Finland also will be fairly well represented as well.

Teams like Germany, Belarus, Norway (which has never won a medal since hockey became an Olympic sport in 1920), Slovakia, Latvia and Switzerland are more the have nots when it comes down to things.

In the coming days I plan to take a look at what the major powerhouse countries’ rosters look like, along with a potential prediction of what to expect as far as their medal chances.

We’ll start this whirlwind trip with the Canadian Olympic team, which was put together by Steve Yzerman.  Remember that the roster is fluid and players can be swapped out up until 24 hours before the first game is played.

The faces of Team Canada.

CANADIAN OLYMPIC TEAM ROSTER

Between the Pipes

Record breaking goaltender Martin Brodeur looks to backstop Canada to gold.

Arguably one of the best goaltending trios to be on one team at one time.  It might be difficult to rotate playing time between the three to avoid rust and controversy.

It’s the double edged sword of having so much homegrown talent to choose from:  you can pick and choose at will, but you run the risk of having more top guns than you actually need or can use.

Martin Brodeur was a virtual lock for playing on the Canadian team.  Even at age 37, he’s been dominant this season.

The league record holder in wins, shutouts, minutes played, games played, and postseason shutouts hasn’t seemed to miss a beat after having elbow surgery that cost him a large chunk of the 2008-09 season.

Brodeur has been a clutch goaltender since he came into the league way back in 1991-92.  If there was one game that my team had to win in order to claim a medal, or a playoff series, or even to make the playoffs…I’d want him between the pipes.  No question about it.

Roberto Luongo is well versed in international play, having spent the 2004 World Cup and the 2006 Torino Olympics as the backup to Brodeur.  Luongo has won gold in two World Championships along with a silver in 2005 when NHL players were fully available due to the lockout.

He has been stellar in international play, going 12-2-3 with a 1.99 goals against average with three shutouts in 18 career appearances.  Those are numbers you can’t overlook when push comes to shove.  Luongo has the credentials to be a number one.

Marc-Andre Fleury is the youngest of the trio and might be more of Canada’s ace of the future.  Fleury also is the defending Stanley Cup Champion netminder, having backstopped the Penguins to a gritty seven game vanquishing of the Detroit Red Wings.

He’s yet to make an appearance in international competition as far as World Cup, World Championships or Olympic play goes.  He was a member of the silver winning Canadian teams at the World Junior Championships in 2003 and 2004.  That makes him third in experience on the international scene.  He’ll probably be back in 2014 when the Olympics land in Sochi.

On the Blueline

Chris Pronger will work with Scott Niedermayer as the leaders of Canada's defense.

The team has a mix of veterans and youth working for it.  There is plenty of talent and leadership that runs from top to bottom on the depth chart.

It will be interesting to see how the pairings play out, if veterans are going to match up with youth, or if youngsters will be on a pairing.

The greybeards of the blueline are led by Scott Niedermayer.  Niedermayer has 29 games of international play under his belt, with six goals and seven assists on the ledger.

He’s also the only player to ever win every major North American and international championship in his career.

That run encompasses the Memorial Cup, World Junior Championships, World Championships, Olympic gold, the Stanley Cup and the World Cup.  That kind of experience is something that can’t be substituted for or bought by any other means.

Chris Pronger is also a rock on the blue line.  He has 27 games of international experience, with a goal and five assists on his resume.  Couple that with gold medals in the World Junior Championships, World Championships, and Olympic gold in 2002 and you have a top two pairing that other countries simply can’t rival if they wanted to.

This will be his fourth Olympic Games as well, having been a member of the 1998, 2002 and 2006 teams.  Having that kind of experience on the larger international surface is a major key when it comes to defensive coverage.

The rest of the defense crew starts with 33 year old Dan Boyle, an offensive defenseman with the San Jose Sharks.  Boyle played in the 2005 World Cup and was selected to the 2006 Olympic team but did not participate in any of the contests.

There is current speculation by commentators that he would be paired with Pronger, leaving Niedermayer to skate with one of the younger Team Canada defensemen.  Expect a lot of Boyle in power play situations on the point.

The other members of the blueline committee are hard hitting Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook of the Chicago Blackhawks and Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings.

All have seen limited action in international play, be it in the World Junior Championships or the World Cup.  Under the tutelage of Niedermayer and Pronger, one would expect for there to be no real issues as far as defensive zone play.

Crashing the Net

Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby looks to continue his international success.

The forwards are an overall younger group than what one might have expected.  Jarome Iginla is the elder statesman at age 32.

In fact other than Iginla, only three other forwards (Brenden Morrow, Joe Thornton, and Patrick Marleau) are at least 30 years of age.

Of the thirteen forwards that are on the roster, eight are 25 or younger which shows that Canada has a rock solid nucleus of talented forwards for the next couple of Olympic Games.

To be perfectly frank, the conversation of the forwards for the Canadian team starts with Sidney Crosby.

The All World pivot has already won a Stanley Cup, an Art Ross Trophy, a Hart Trophy, a Lester B. Pearson Trophy, three All Star Selections, a gold and silver medal in World Junior Cup play and a World Cup scoring championship.

In his nine games in the World Cup, he tallied 8 goals and 8 assists for 16 points.  With the talent he has to work with on this team, it would be surprising for him to have a disappointing stretch.

Crosby will have no shortage of snipers to dish the puck to, including Columbus’s Rick Nash (24 goals this season, two 40 goal campaigns in his career), Dany Heatley of San Jose (30 goals this year, two 50 goal seasons and two 40 goal seasons to his credit), and Patrick Marleau (four 30 goal seasons, including a career high tying 38 so far in 57 games this season.)

Thornton is another talented pivot who can spread the puck around to other scorers as evidenced by his 15 goals and 56 assists so far this season.  Iginla may be the elder statesman of the forward committee, but he also has a string of eight consecutive seasons in which he’s scored at least 31 goals.  Included in that stretch are a pair of 50 goal campaigns and a 40 goal season.

There is no shortage of goal scorers on the roster.  The remaining forwards are extremely capable, but not marquee names or scorers.  Expect players like Mike Richards, Jonathan Toews, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Patrice Bergeron and perhaps even Eric Staal to be third and fourth liners this time.

MEDAL OUTLOOK

Team Canada looks to rebound from a seventh place finish in 2006 with a return trip to the podium.

Canada is always one of the deepest, talented teams in Olympic hockey.  That’s why the 7th place finish at the 2006 Olympics in Torino is so puzzling given the talent base.

Was it a matter of too much talent leading to ego clashes?  Was it too many chiefs, not enough indians?  Perhaps there weren’t enough pucks to go around?

It’s hard to tell, but a repeat performance is unlikely here in Vancouver with the fan support.

Either way, with the amount of talent that the country boasts factored in with the home crowd one would be hard pressed to bet against the Canadians for gold this time around.

To think that they would be held off the podium all together would be farfetched.  I predict no worse than silver for the hosts provided that they can coexist, sending the fans home happy.

With the 2010 Winter Olympics opening soon the United States men’s hockey team looks at Vancouver as a fresh start, a chance for redemption.  The 2006 Olympics in Torino were unkind to the Americans on the ice, as they finished a disappointing eighth just four years after claiming the silver in the 2002 Olympics held in Salt Lake City.

With the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brian Burke calling the shots, the Americans hope for better fortunes this time around.  Much like their neighbors to the north, the Americans hope to return to the medal podium when all is said and done.   They’ll have a tough task in front of them.

As I said before, remember that rosters are fluid at the moment and players can be swapped out up to 24 hours before the first games are played.  Team USA has already had to make changes.

TEAM USA OLYMPIC ROSTER

Between the Pipes

Buffalo's Ryan Miller hopes to lead Team USA to the medal podium.

The Americans definitely are not as well stocked as the Canadians when it comes to goaltending.

The trio of Tim Thomas, Ryan Miller and Jonathan Quick doesn’t necessarily bowl one over.  Only Thomas has international experience, and even that is limited.

He’s also 36 and has been in a slump lately (winning only one of his last nine starts) so I wouldn’t expect for him to be the number one choice for coach Ron Wilson in big games.

One also has to wonder how much Thomas’ head will be in the game, as there is speculation he is on the trade block and that Tuukka Rask will be handed the #1 job.

Miller is probably the de facto starter for the Americans.  However, even he has been on a rough stretch, after starting 11 consecutive games.  On the season he has started 48 of 57 games for the Sabres and is on pace to play in 70 games again.  One has to worry that with the Olympics Miller may burn himself out for the stretch run and be disappointing in the playoffs.

Quick is the youngest of the trio and he still needs seasoning.  This is only his second full season in the NHL and he just played his 100th career game.  By comparison, Martin Brodeur has 108 shutouts.  Numbers like that scream about the inexperience that the Americans have.

Quick has been solid and is a major factor in the Kings resurgence, but he’s not ready to be a focal point of this team.  He might see action in group play against a lesser team as a confidence booster, but don’t expect him in the medal round when it’s win or done.

On the Blueline

Brian Rafalski is the anchor on Team USA's blueline.

The Americans have been bitten by the injury bug on the blueline, forcing them to make a couple of replacements already before the Games even began.

Paul Martin and Mike Komisarek were selected for the team, but due to a broken arm and shoulder surgery respectively, both men are unable to compete for their country.

Those are two major blows to the depth for coach Ron Wilson and his defensive pairings.  It also forced Brian Burke to scramble to try and tab a couple replacements to fill those gaps.

Brian Rafalski is the veteran of the group, a grizzled veteran at 36.  This will be his third Olympic team, having played in 2002 and 2006.

He also was a member of the 2004 World Cup team.  He’ll need to be the anchor for a defense corps in which no other defenseman is older than 29.  It looks to be a challenging task given the depth on other countries’ teams.

Looking at the names on the roster there is no one that really strikes awe or fear in one’s heart.  There is a collection of good, but not great talent.  Ryan Suter is a solid defenseman, but he’s more comfortable in the defensive zone.  In fact, that is what can be said about most of the defensemen that Burke selected.

There is no real offensive threat, no power play specialist, no one that can jump in on an odd man rush to be a threat.  What Burke could have used was someone like Dan Boyle or a Sergei Gonchar to help out offensively.

Brooks Orpik, Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson, Ryan Whitney and Tim Gleason round out the group.  Burke’s adage has been to build from the net out.  We saw him do it with the Anaheim Ducks when they won the Stanley Cup in 2007, and he’s doing it now with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The difference is that in the NHL you don’t have to face the best that a NATION has to offer.  In the NHL top players log between 20 and 25 minutes of ice time normally, while in the Olympics it can be a constant barrage of top flight talent for the entire sixty minutes.

Crashing the Net

Vancouver will mark Chris Drury's third Olympic Games.

In this scenario the Americans are much like the Canadians.  Only three of the forwards are over 30, while the other ten are all 25 and younger.

While there is talent in the mix, the team lacks the firepower to compete with the big teams in the tournament from top to bottom.

Jamie Langenbrunner is the old man of the forwards.  At age 34, this will be his second Olympic team.

He was a member of the 1998 team, along with the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.  He’s the captain of the team this year and is one of the few with any international experience to his credit.

Chris Drury is the second of the over 30 crew and he has plenty of international experience as well.  He has played on three World Championship teams. a World Cup of Hockey team, and this will be his third Olympic team.

He and Langenbrunner will have to be the calming influences on a team that may get jitters from playing for their country.  If they can’t keep the youngsters calm, cool and collected it could be bad news.

Ryan Malone is the third over 30 member of the forwards.  However, he lacks the experience that the other two have, and is only playing in his sixth NHL season.  He’ll have to be a factor to help take the pressure off the younger players on the team.

Players like Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane and Zach Parise are the big offensive threats, but they’ll need to play two way hockey in order for the Americans to survive.  They simply don’t have the luxury of being one dimensional.

Expect Dustin Brown, Ryan Callahan and Joe Pavelski to form as more of a checking/energy line.  Paul Stastny, David Backes, Ryan Kesler, and Bobby Ryan are also in the mix.

If Wilson wants to spread his experience around, I’d think that Drury, Malone and Langenbrunner would be on separate lines.  Such a strategy would give the top three lines a veteran presence to go with youth.

If it were me devising the lines, I’d go with something like this:

Kessel-Drury-Kane
Stastny-Parise-Langenbrunner
Malone-Ryan-Backes
Brown-Callahan-Pavelski

Rafalski-E. Johnson
Suter-Whitney
Gleason-J. Johnson

Medal Outlook

The Americans are angling to finish in the medals, but have a tough road ahead.

The Americans have their work cut out for them.  They finished 8th in 2006 after winning the silver in 2002.

The world has managed to cut into the talent gap that was once rather large.  Countries like Sweden, Russia and the Czech Republic are extremely talented.

While they may not be as bad as they were in 2006 when they only finished in front of doormats Kazakhstan, Germany, Italy and Latvia, they may simply not be as good as they once were.

I expect that the Americans will improve on their finish from 2006 but I don’t see them reaching the podium this go round.  Sweden, Canada, Russia and the Czech Republic are all very good teams with plenty of experience in international play.  I predict that the Americans will make the medal round but out of the medals, finishing fifth.

All those questions and more are always up for debate.  People stand with their team, their alliances, and steadfastly, staunchly defend their teams and their players against any and all criticism from others.  While those things are always a matter of public opinion, the cold, hard statistics aren’t.  There are records that get broken, chased, pursued, and every time one comes up, the media is all over it, speculating as to if it may fall.   These are some records that have been around a while, and may never be broken for all we know…take a look and enjoy…

1.  Joe Dimaggio’s 56 game hit streak: Dimaggio spent his entire career in Yankee pinstripes, spanning from 1936-1951.  A three time MVP and 13 time All Star, Dimaggio put together a streak for the ages in 1941.  While Ted Williams was the last player to hit over .400, also in that same season of 1941, Dimaggio ran off 56 straight games with a hit.  Every game from May 15th to July 16th, Dimaggio had at least one base hit to his credit.  The streak ended on July 17th, when he was 0 for 4 against Cleveland, robbed twice by Ken Keltner at third base.  During the streak, Dimaggio collected 91 hits in 223 at bats, for an average of .409 during the run.  Ironically, after going 0 for 4 that night, Dimaggio promptly ripped off another 16 game hit streak, giving him a base hit in 72 of 73 games.  The longest streak since then?  Pete Rose’s NL record tying 44 game run in 1978, which left him knotted with Hall of Famer Wee Willie Keeler (Hit ‘Em where they ain’t) for the mark in the National League.

2.  Nolan Ryan’s 5,714 career strikeouts, 383 strikeout season, seven no hitters: Obviously these could have been laid out in three separate spots, but it is just as easy to compact them to one.  Ryan’s career strikeout total is astonishing.  He still leads number two on the list, Randy Johnson, by 839.  Roger Clemens is third, 1,042 behind the Ryan Express.  Clemens is retired and Johnson doesn’t  have enough left in the tank to catch him.

Ryan’s 383 strikeout campaign in 1973 broke the record of 382 set by the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax.  Rich Reese was the record setting victim for all you trivia buffs out there.  When hearing of Ryan breaking the mark, Koufax said:  “Yeah, and he also surpassed my total for bases on balls in a single season by 91. I suspect half of those guys he struck out swung rather than get hit.”  The three highest totals for single season strikeouts since also belong to Ryan:  367 (1974), 341 (1977) and 327 (1976).

Ryan also logged seven no hitters in his career:  May 15, 1973 at Kansas City, July 15, 1973 at Detroit, September 28, 1974 at home vs. Minnesota, June 1, 1975 at home against Baltimore, September 26th, 1981 at home against the Dodgers, June 11th, 1990 at Oakland, and May 1st, 1991 at home vs. Toronto.  Koufax is next in line with four.

3.  Wayne Gretzky’s 92 goal season, 163 assist season, 215 point season, 50 goals in 39 games and 2,857 career points: What else can be said about The Great One that would not bog down in cliches and excessive platitudes that would fail to measure up to the man and what he did on the ice?

He set forty regular-season records, fifteen playoff records, six All-Star records, won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, and won nine MVP awards and ten scoring titles.  He is the only player to total over 200 points in a season — a feat that he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points a season for 15 NHL seasons, 13 of them consecutively. He is the only player to have his number (99) officially retired by the National Hockey League for all teams.

Only three other seasons of at least 80 goals have been recorded in the history of the league:  Gretzky’s 87 in 1984, Brett Hull’s 86 in 1991, and Mario Lemieux tallied 85 in the 1989 campaign.  Gretzky is the only man to break the 200 point plateau in a season, and shattered Gordie Howe’s previous record of 1,850 career points.

4.  George Hainsworth’s 22 shutout season: Hainsworth had the unenviable task of stepping in the skates and the crease following Georges Vezina, the beloved goaltender of the Canadiens.  Vezina had played every game in the franchise’s existence, dating back to 1910-11 through the opening game of 1925-26, when the effects of tuberculosis were too much for him to continue, prompting the formation of the Vezina Trophy, given annually to the league’s best netminder.

Hainsworth would go on to win three straight Vezina trophies in 1926-27, 1927-28, and 1928-29.  In 1928-29, he set an NHL record with an astounding 22 shutouts in just a 44 game season, while recording a record GAA of 0.98.  In 1929-30, he set another record that may never be broken, going 270:08 without allowing a goal in the postseason.  That’s four and a half full games folks.

5.  Cal Ripken’s Ironman streak: There is no superlative that can be attributed to Cal Ripken Jr. that would be unjustified.  He was a 19 time All Star, a two time All Star MVP, a two time AL MVP, two time Gold Glove winner, Rookie of the Year, eight time Silver Slugger winner and even won a home run derby in 1991 at the All Star Game.

Ripken racked up 3189 career hits, 431 homers, and yet he is best known for the streak that defined his career, and major league baseball.  From May 30, 1982 through September 20, 1998, a span of 2,632 games, Oriole and baseball fans alike would see number eight in an O’s uniform on the diamond.  He broke Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse’s, mark, by 502 games.  The record breaking game took place September 6th, 1995, against the California Angels, and homered in both the record tying and record breaking games.

Fans voted that record breaking game as the most memorable moment in Major League Baseball history.

6.  Jerry Rice’s 1549 career receptions, 22,895 receiving yards and 197 receiving touchdowns: Rice was one of those once in a lifetime performers:  one who could change the course of the game with a single, spectacular play.

His 1549 receptions are over 400 more than second place Cris Carter, who reeled in 1101 passes in his illustrious career.  He had 11 straight 1000 yard campaigns, including a record 1848 yard season in 1995.  His receiving yardage total blows the competition away:  Tim Brown is second with 14,934 yards, or nearly five miles less than what Rice racked up in his career.

Number 80 also scored 197 touchdowns through the air, 67 more than second place Carter with 130.  In 1987, he doubled the second place receiver in receiving scores, the only time in NFL history that has happened, reeling in 22 touchdowns.  Mike Quick of the Eagles was second with 11.

7.  Glenn Hall’s consecutive start streak: Mr. Goalie, as he is known today, set a record that will never be touched again.  He was called up in 1952 by Detroit but never played, yet the Wings put his name on the Stanley Cup anyway when they won.  He took over the starting job in 1954-55, displacing the legendary Terry Sawchuk, and played in every game, racking up twelve shutouts and the Calder Memorial Trophy for rookie of the year.

He played every game in his second season in Detroit, then was dealt to Chicago.  Hall continued to play every regular season and playoff contest each season for the Hawks.  In 1961, he backstopped Chicago to their first Cup since 1938.  On November 8th, 1962, suffering from back problems, the venerable netminder couldn’t go.  Dennis DeJordy replaced him in that game against the Bruins.  That ended a streak of 502 consecutive complete games played by Hall.

8.  Rocky Marciano’s 49-0: Marciano was the heavyweight champion of boxing from 1952 to 1956, and is the only heavyweight champion in the history of the sport to retire without losing or drawing a fight in his career.  He was 49-0 with 43 knockouts.

He won the title by defeating Jersey Joe Walcott in September 1952 on a thirteenth round knockout, then retained in May 1953 with a first round knockout of Walcott, again in September 1953 with an eleventh round TKO of Roland la Starza.  In June of 1954, he would defeat Ezzard Charles by unanimous decision, then knocked Charles out in the eighth round three months later, TKO’d Don Cockell in May 1955, then stopped Archie Moore in September 1955.

Marciano retired on April 27, 1956, his perfect record and his legacy, intact.

9.  Oscar Robertson’s triple double season: The “Big O” as he is known, was a two time college player of the year, 12 time All Star, 3 time All Star MVP, the 1964 MVP, a 9 time All NBA First Team selection, 1961 Rookie of the Year and a gold medalist on the 1960 Olympic team.

However, the 1961-62 season was a season that will be remembered in basketball lore forever.  Robertson became the only player in NBA history to average a triple double over the entire season, posting totals of 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists, breaking Bob Cousy’s record of 715 assists by racking up 899 of his own.  He had a near miss of repeating the next season, when he posted 28.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 9.5 assists.

10.  Ty Cobb’s career batting average: The Georgia Peach was one of the greatest offensive players in the history of baseball.  He racked up 892 stolen bases, 4,191 hits, a dozen batting titles, 1937 RBI, a stunning fifty four swipes of home, a Triple Crown in 1909, and hit over .300 in 22 straight seasons.

His career mark of .366 is a major league record, and considering that Ichiro is the highest ranking active player at number 25 on the list, at .3335, it is unlikely that the record gets broken.  While Cobb may be criticized for his racist stance and other problems, his on field performance is unparalleled.

11.  Cy Young’s 511 career victories: There is not much that can be disputed about Cy Young.  He won 30 or more games five times, twenty or more ten other occasions and owns the major league record for innings pitched with 7354.2 and 749 complete games.

He is best known for winning the 1901 Triple Crown for pitchers, leading the league in wins, strikeouts and earned run average.  Young retired with an unbreakable 511 victories to his credit, as his final record was 511-316 with an ERA of 2.63.  The next in line for career wins?  Walter “Big Train” Johnson with 417, though his career ended some eighty years ago.  The leader in active wins is Roger Clemens with 354, though at 44, and with the Mitchell Report, his career may be over.

12.  Wilt Chamberlain’s record shattering season: In 1961-62, Wilt Chamberlain set major numbers that will never be met again.  Chamberlain is the only player in NBA history to have a season averaging at least forty points a contest, but in 61/62, he went even further.

For the season, Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds a game.  He is the only player to score at least 4,000 points a season when he racked up 4,029 and totaled over 2000 rebounds again.  For that season, he also only missed 8 of the 3890 minutes that his team played, and those coming when he was ejected for picking up two technicals with eight minutes remaining in that contest.  The only other player besides Chamberlain to even crack the 3,000 point barrier in a season is Michael Jordan.

In that 61/62 season, on March 8th, 1962, Chamberlain had his record setting 100 point contest in a 169-147 win over the New York Knickerbockers.  He also scored 42 points and pulled down 24 rebounds in the All Star Game that year.

13.  John Wooden’s run: “The Wizard of Westwood” had an unprecedented run at UCLA, winning seven straight NCAA tournament titles from 1967 to 1973, four 30-0 seasons, a 38 game win streak in the NCAA tournament, and was a six time NCAA College Basketball Coach of the Year.  He was a three time All American as a player from 1930-1932, and was the first player inducted in the College Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.

After losing on January 23rd, 1971 to Notre Dame by a score of 89-82, Wooden and the Bruins would go on to win 88 straight contests, not losing again for nearly three years, when Notre Dame again stopped the Bruins, 71-70, rallying for the final twelve points of the contest in the last 3:30 after trailing 70-59.

Wooden would lead the Bruins to 19 Pac-8 (now Pac-10) Conference titles in his tenure with UCLA, winning 620 games in his 27 years at UCLA, while losing just 147.  He racked up ten NCAA titles in his final twelve seasons on the bench before retiring in 1975.

The next time you’re sitting around with your buddies talking about sports, or in a sports bar, hearing a bunch of blowhards talk about how so and so pulled off the greatest feat ever…feel free to pull out some of these gems and watch the conversation die down.

They say you can’t go home again.  They also say that when you make a decision to retire, you should stick by it, especially in pro sports where the game seems to pass the long in the tooth veterans by faster than ever with the influx of young talent, both domestic and foreign.  They’ll tell you that a second act will never be as successful as the first run.

Ask Michael Jordan, who, after winning six titles with the Bulls, came up short with the Washington Wizards when he came out of retirement.  While Brett Favre may be flying high now with the Vikings, let’s not forget that this is his SECOND unretirement.  He also has quite a variety of weapons at his disposal.  His first time back in the mix after deciding to hang it up?  He started off hot, but then faded like a burned out star on the horizon as the Jets bottomed out and missed the playoffs.

Now, the same questions will be asked of Allen Iverson.  Will “The Answer” BE the answer for a 76ers team floundering at 5-14 with eight consecutive defeats?

Iverson, who retired after an ill fated signing with, of all teams, the Memphis Grizzlies, resurfaced in the city of Brotherly Love, with the franchise that drafted him first overall in 1996 this week, signing a one year, non guaranteed contract.  If the Sixers decide to guarantee his deal on January 10th, Iverson would make in the neighborhood of $650,000 for the season.  He’ll step right back into the starting lineup, with the Sixers point guard Lou Williams out six to eight weeks with a broken jaw.

Iverson spent a rocky decade in Philadelphia, with rants, tirades, arrests, and more than one battle with Larry Brown.  He is best known for his rant in 2002 about practice, where he derisively used the team “practice” almost twenty times in his monologue.  Philadelphia shipped him to Denver in a deal that netted the 76ers Andre Miller, a pass first, shoot second point guard that was a definite 180 from Iverson, who is a slasher and a scorer, but not necessarily a creator.  Following a season and a half in Denver, Iverson was dealt to Detroit in a deal that sent Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets.  Suddenly, the Nuggets got hot, winning the Northwest Division, while Iverson became more of a bench player in Detroit, shooting a Chris Dudleyesque 41.6 percent from the field in 54 games.

After leaving Detroit, Memphis was the only team interested in signing Iverson, for a one year deal.  He was coming off the bench, but after three games, where he averaged just over 12 points a contest, he left the team to deal with personal issues and then agreed to a mutual agreement with the team to release him on November 17th.  Other than the 76ers, the only team interested at all in potentially signing the 34 year old Iverson was the New York Knicks, who are in a perennial rebuilding.  It was also expected that Iverson would be wanted to come off the bench, which would have soured him on signing with the team as well.

One has to wonder if this is little more than a publicity stunt for the Sixers.  They are 29th in the league in attendance, and floundering with the fourth worst record in the league.  The only positive they can take so far is that they are still THIRD in their division, as the Knicks (4-15) and Nets (0-18, setting a NBA record for most consecutive losses to start a season) reside in the Atlantic Division as well.  Of course, given the weak teams in the Eastern Conference, if Iverson can turn the tide for the 76ers, they still could get in the mix for the playoffs, as despite the horrible start, they are just three games out of the eighth seed right now.

It won’t take long for Iverson to face his former teams, as he is expected to make his debut next Monday against the Nuggets, while the Sixers then face the Pistons on Wednesday.  One has to think that Iverson will be on a much shorter leash this go round than he was as the face of the franchise.  The 76ers are a team that is much different in complexion and construction from his first tenure.  Andre Iguodala is the feature player, and the swingman has done an admirable job with less than top flight talent around him.  Other than the injury plagued Elton Brand, there is little in the way of “name” talent on the roster.  Their best bench player, Marrese Speights, who was averaging 13 points a game in ten contests, is out eight weeks with a knee ligament tear.

Can Iverson save the 76ers?  I doubt it.  He’ll just be added to the long list of names of players that didn’t really know when to give up the rock when it was time.  It’s a shame to see a former league MVP and All Star become a shadow of what he actually was.  Sometimes the lure of the money, the lure of the fame, of the adulation of thousands, if not millions, have always been the swaying factor in the careers of athletes.  Unfortunately, it comes to the point that such things are far too common instead of just walking away.

“The Answer”?  More like a noncommital shrug.

What a wild, wild world the NFL is.  You never know from week to week what could happen, either with teams, injuries, personnel changes, rumors, speculation and a myriad of other issues.  Week eleven has been another whirlwind, and if it’s any indication of the future, there could be a wild month and a half left of regular season football to play.

We’ll start with the two teams that were undefeated coming into the week, the Saints and the Colts.  Both teams were 9-0 coming in, and both teams were 10-0 after Sunday, though they took two distinctly different paths to get there.  The Saints had an easy time rolling over the Bucs, who after playing well the last couple weeks, fell flat on their faces against Drew Brees and company, getting walloped 38-7.  Meanwhile, the Colts had to deal with a rough and tumble Ravens team playing for their playoff lives.  Billy Cundiff booted five field goals for Baltimore, but missed one, and Joe Flacco tossed an interception deep in Indianapolis territory late in the fourth quarter, allowing the Colts to escape with a 17-15 win.  It is not the first time the Colts have been tested or had to win ugly:  you recall they beat the 49ers on a Joseph Addai touchdown pass, and needed Kris Brown to miss a field goal at the final gun to avoid overtime against the Texans.  That doesn’t even take last week’s New England game into consideration, when the Colts rallied from down big in the fourth quarter.

On the flip side of undefeated is complete and total suckitude.  That is what the league brought to the table at Ford Field in Detroit, as the 1-8 Browns traveled to the Motor City to take on the 1-8 Lions.  Surprisingly, this game was an offensive bonanza, as young gunslingers Brady Quinn and Matthew Stafford racked up yards and points by the truckload.  Quinn threw for four scores, Stafford five in a game that came down to the final play, and then one.  Hank Poteat was called for pass interference on a Hail Mary with the Browns leading 37-31, giving the Lions one untimed down at the one yard line.  The Browns called time out, giving a battered Stafford time to recover and he came back to throw the winning score to Brandon Pettigrew.  Jason Hanson’s extra point was the difference as the Lions picked up win number 2 on the season 38-37.

The Bills fired their head coach Dick Jauron last week and elevated defensive coordinator Perry Fewell to the position, the first black head coach in the history of the franchise.  The Bills suffered more injuries, including rookie offensive lineman Eric Wood. who broke his leg early in the fourth quarter.  They lost Marshawn Lynch to a shoulder injury right before halftime.  Trent Edwards was benched for Ryan Fitzpatrick, and for once, the Bills offense showed signs of life.  They broke the 300 yard barrier for the first time since week two, and Fitzpatrick hooked up with Terrell Owens on the longest play from scrimmage in the history of the franchise with a 98 yard touchdown pass that gave the Bills a 15-10 lead.

They even bottled up Maurice Jones-Drew, who gained just 66 yards on the ground on 25 carries, though he did score his league leading 13th touchdown.  However, like games against New England and Cleveland, the Bills couldn’t hold late, and David Garrard led the Jaguars down the field to a game winning score with less than a minute to go as the Jags won 18-15.  It was a gritty performance by the Bills, who, nonetheless, fell to 3-7.  The disappointing thing for the Bills is that they’ve led, tied or been within striking distance going to the fourth quarter in six of their seven losses.  Just look at the numbers:

Week 1  @ New England:  led 17-10 going to fourth quarter, 24-13 with 5:32 remaining…LOST 25-24
Week 3 vs. New Orleans:  trailed 10-7 going to fourth quarter…LOST 27-7
Week 5 vs. Cleveland:  tied 3-3 going to fourth quarter…LOST 6-3
Week 8 vs. Houston:  led 10-9 going to fourth quarter…LOST 31-10
Week 10 @ Tennessee:  tied 17-17 going to fourth quarter…LOST 41-17
Week 11 @ Jacksonville:  led 15-10 going to fourth quarter…LOST 18-15

Say the Bills win the three games they were leading after three quarters and even ONE of the three they were tied in…instead of 3-7, they’re 7-3.  Just goes to show you what happens when you can’t close out games.  With Miami, the Jets and Kansas City on the horizon, it will be interesting what the Bills do going forward.

Speaking of those teams, Miami continued to try and climb their way back out of their 0-3 start with a 24-17 win over Carolina Thursday night thanks to Ricky Williams carrying the load.  Williams will need to do the heavy lifting for the Fins offense with the loss of Ronnie Brown for the season with a knee injury.  Meanwhile, the Jets, after starting 3-0, lost for the sixth time in seven games with a 31-14 pasting at the hands of the New England Patriots.  While Darrelle Revis did shut down Randy Moss (5 catches for 31 yards and a touchdown), Wes Welker carved up the Jets with a career best 15 catches for 192 yards, which was massively beneficial for my fantasy team.

In the strange outcomes of the week, two AFC North toughies went to play two AFC West bottom feeders on the road, and ironically, both came up on the losing end.  The Steelers lost Ben Roethlisberger to a head injury, then Charlie Batch to a wrist injury, then the game to Kansas City 27-24 in overtime.  Batch will need surgery on his wrist and miss six weeks, Roethlisberger is awaiting further test results.  That leaves Dennis Dixon, he of one career pass attempt in the league as the lone healthy option at the second.

Meanwhile, in Oakland, with a chance to really lock the division down, the Bengals fumbled away their chances, giving up 10 points in the final 33 seconds to Oakland, a team that hadn’t scored that many points in their last seven fourth quarters COMBINED, to drop a 20-17 decision to the Raiders.  With that win, the Raiders improved to 10-0 against the Bengals in Oakland.  Figure that out…the Bengals unable to win in Oaktown.  Who would have guessed that?  Carson Palmer became the first Bengal QB since Jack Thompson in 1979 to run for two TDs in one game, but he fumbled twice, losing one.  Andre Caldwell coughed up the kick return following the tying touchdown, which came on a pass from Bruce Gradkowski to Louis Murphy.

In other action, the Giants ended their four game losing skid with a 34-31 overtime win over the Falcons, in a game that they let a 14 point lead slip away in the final six minutes.  Eli Manning threw for 384 yards for the G men, who still really don’t look anywhere near the team that won their first five games of the season.  One has to wonder if the result would have been different if Michael Turner wasn’t out for Atlanta with that ankle injury, as it seemed that the Falcons offense really misses his big play ability, both last week against Carolina and then this week.

The Cowboys looked anemic again on offense, scoring just seven points for the second consecutive week, in the fourth quarter with about three minutes to go.  Fortunately for Dallas, that was enough to get by this week, as they edged the Redskins 7-6.  The Redskins lost their second running back, Ladell Betts, for the season with torn knee ligaments, forcing Rock Cartwright into action.  Shawn Suisham, who hadn’t missed a kick all season, missed a pair of field goals in this one, which could have given Washington the upset.  Tough break for coach Jim Zorn, who really is taking a beating in the press, which will most likely intensify with this result.

The Packers beat the 49ers 30-24 but lost Al Harris and Aaron Kampman to season ending injuries.  The Vikings steamrolled the Seahawks 38-9 in a game that no one was surprised by as the Seahawks continue to fall.  The Bears took another hit to their playoff hopes with a 24-20 loss to the Eagles, in a game that SURPRISE! ended in a Jay Cutler interception, his eighteenth of the season.

In one of the bigger games Sunday, the Broncos fell on their face for the fourth consecutive week, getting waxed 32-3 by the Chargers, who now have taken over sole possession of first place in the AFC West with their fifth consecutive victory.  After starting 6-0 with wins over teams like Cincinnati, New England, and Dallas, the Broncos have been whipped by Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Washington and San Diego.  There is more infighting with the Broncos than actual on field fight for the opposition.  It looks like a replay of so many late season collapses by the Broncos, who need to figure something out and fast if they are going to have a chance to right the ship.  They play the Giants Thanksgiving night.

With six weeks to go, there still are spots up for grabs.  Who will make the plays necessary to make the postseason and who will fall short?  With Cleveland and Tampa the lone one win teams left, who will end up with the top overall draft choice?  Will more coaches fall by the wayside when the curtail falls at the end of the season?  Where will guys like Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Jim Fassel, Brian Billick, Herm Edwards or other well known coaches land?  What about Mike Vick and his potential new landing places for 2010?  There are so many questions left to be answered that despite the fact that there are so many teams that have no shot, mine included, that you have to be compelled to tune in and find out what might be coming next.

Once one of the proudest and winningest traditions in the history of college football, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have seemingly been in tatters the past decade plus.  The school is laced with Heisman Trophy winners, seven in all, tied with Ohio State and USC for the most in college football history.  However, even that has seemingly fallen on hard times, as wide receiver Tim Brown was the last recipient for the Irish, more than two decades ago.

Saturday may have been the final nail in the coffin of coach Charlie Weis in his five year tenure with the school.

Weis, who when he was hired, stated that 6-5 wouldn’t cut it for the university, watched his team fall to 6-5 with its third consecutive defeat Saturday, on Senior Day to the University of Connecticut, 33-30 in double overtime at Notre Dame Stadium.  They’ve struggled to beat quality opponents the entire time that Weis has been with the school.  They’ve had chances this season to make that “statement” victory, only to fall short.

There was a game in week two against Michigan, when the Irish led in the final minute before Tate Forcier led the Wolverines to a winning score to give them a 38-34 victory.  After three straight wins, the Irish faced USC at Notre Dame Stadium.  After falling behind by three scores in the fourth quarter, the Irish scored twice to get within 7 and drove inside the USC 5 in the final seconds.  However, Jimmy Clausen couldn’t pull the trigger on the tying touchdown pass.  They rebounded to win their next two games to get to 6-2, but have faded, dropping three straight.

That streak started with a 2 point loss to Navy, a school that the Irish had beaten 43 consecutive times before Weis and the Irish lost to them in 2007.  They followed that up with a five point defeat at the hands of #8 Pitt and then Saturday’s defeat to UCONN, a team that hadn’t won since the shooting death of one of their players late last month.  All told, the Irish lost their five games by a combined 21 points, showing a definitive inability to contend in close games against superior teams.  It seems like the end of the line for Jimmy Clausen at Notre Dame, at least at Notre Dame Stadium, as well.  The Irish have one more road contest, at Stanford, then probably a third tier bowl like last season’s Hawaii Bowl.

One has to think that Clausen was a major disappointment as well.  Sure, he put up some decent statistical numbers in his career.  He’s thrown for 7,808 yards and 55 scores in his three seasons on campus, but that is nothing compared to the hype and hoopla that surrounded him when he came to Notre Dame and boldly predicted four national titles for the Irish while he was there.  Not only have the Irish not come close to even ONE national title in this three year span, he doesn’t even have a winning record as a starter.  The Irish were 3-9 in 2007, though Clausen didn’t play in two of those games, including the defeat against Navy that ended that 43 game string.  The Irish was 7-6 in 2008, though after starting 5-2, they dropped four of their last five regular season contests before winning the Hawaii Bowl.  Including in that mess was a 24-23 Senior Day loss to Syracuse, a team that was 3-9 last year, with one of those wins over Northeastern, a school that this week announced they were dropping football.

This year, as stated, they started 6-2, but have dropped three straight.  There’s not enough playmakers to make things happen.  The run game is questionable, the playcalling has been bad at times, and ultimately, it comes down to three things in college football:  winning, recruiting and coaching.  Weis certainly hasn’t been winning as much as the school expected.  His 35-26 record, or .573 winning percentage, is lower than the .583 that both Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie posted.  The fate of those two coaches?  Well, they were both fired.  Recruiting can only take you so far:  at best, you’re going to have a guy for four years, three if they cut out early.  College is not like the pros when you can make a trade or sign a free agent to shore up a weak spot.  If you lose someone that is a big time player, you’re stuck with backups or walk ons in order to get through that season.

Jack Swarbrick, the athletic director at the school, said no decision would be made about Weis until after the game against Stanford and that the only two involved would be him and school president John I. Jenkins.  It seemed rather clear that it was a BCS or bust type season for Weis, whose contract runs through 2015, and this three game skid derailed that in a hurry.  Should Weis get fired, as seemingly every television pundit in the world of sports seems to be advocating, Weis probably won’t be hurting for options to go somewhere.  He may not be head coaching material.  Perhaps he is better suited as a coordinator, similar to Norm Chow, or Buddy Ryan.  That could be where his success lies, instead of trying to oversee an entire team and juggling everything.

It will be interesting to see how it unfolds, and, should Weis be fired, who the Irish look to tab as their new coach.  Florida coach Urban Meyer has already stated that he is not interested in the position, taking away one certain big name the school may have targeted.  For now it’s wait and see, as the Irish prepare for the Cardinal and attempt to avoid a second consecutive .500 regular season campaign.

Remember when the NFL was full of entertaining players and personas?  From the Fridge to Lawrence Taylor to Jim McMahon, Ickey Woods, right on down the line, the 1980s and early 1990s were a great time for the league and its fans.  The league was exciting, celebrations and flamboyance were as common as the Buccaneers getting pummeled wearing those day glo orange uniforms, and life was good.

You had coaches like Mike Ditka and Jerry Glanville walking the sideline, guys that were larger than life attitude wise, and more than ready to make a quip, a one liner, or something to spice up a press conference.  Instead these days, coaches and players are more milquetoast than anything, though some will try to use the word “stoic.”

Bill Belichick is the prime example of the new breed.  He dresses like a homeless guy that found NFL merchandise in a dumpster near him, and his press conferences are usually laced with monosyllabic responses and numerous facial looks that all seem to resemble a grimace similar to Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of the Joker, or Pam Anderson after botox.  Gone are the outbursts that angry coaches would make in reaction to a tough loss like we saw even a few years ago with Dennis Green or Herm Edwards.

Even the majority of the players are more subdued these days.  Gone are the days of Terrell Owens pulling a Sharpie from his shoe, or tossing popcorn.  Owens, who was as flamboyant as Jesse “The Body” Ventura at times, now just looks old and disinterested at times.  What about Joe Horn whipping out his cell phone and supposedly calling his mom?  That earned him a hefty fine a few years ago as well.  The Lambeau Leap may still be going strong, but it seems that more and more the league continues to crack down on what it deems “excessive” celebrations.

Two weeks ago against Baltimore, Chad Ochocinco of the Bengals tried lobbying an official during a replay challenge for his catch to be considered good.  He got a dollar bill from one of the assistant coaches on the sideline and laughingly slipped it to the official.  The league office didn’t find the humor in it, fining him $20,000 for the stunt.  It was not the only incident for him in recent weeks however.  Last week in preparation for their contest with divisional rival Pittsburgh at Heinz Field in a contest that would decide first place in the division, Ochocinco said he planned to send mustard to the Steelers.  He said he was sending mustard because “after they (the Steelers) fall behind, they aren’t going to ketchup”, a reference to Heinz Field.  However, that was shot down by coach Marvin Lewis, who wisely decided that there was enough bulletin board material out there as it was.

Brent Celek of the Philadelphia Eagles was also embroiled in a bit of controversy with the league recently.  After scoring a touchdown last Sunday night against Dallas, Celek struck a pose similar to Captain Morgan, the ever popular fictional spokesperson for Captain Morgan rum.  This was actually the second time he pulled the stunt, as early in the season, Celek was one of six Eagles fined $10,000 for the same sort of pose, that coming after a DeSean Jackson touchdown.

It turns out that Captain Morgan was trying to start a grassroots campaign of sorts.  It was revealed by Glenn Lehrman, an account director at Rogers and Cowan, who handles promotions for Captain Morgan, that each time a player was caught on camera striking the Captain Morgan pose, that the company was going to donate money to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund.  That was going to be $10,000 per appearance in the regular season, $25,000 in the playoffs and $100,000 for any occurrence in the Super Bowl.

However, the NFL put the kibosh on THAT concept as well, in a statement released by Greg Aiello, NFL spokesman:

“The issue is that players are specifically prohibited under our policies from wearing, displaying, promoting or otherwise conveying their support of a commercially identified product during a game while they’re on the field,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Yahoo! Sports. “Whether it’s rum or soft drinks or any other commercial product, that type of promotion is prohibited.”

Then, in perhaps what one can only deem as the most bizarre story in recent weeks involving questionable antics and behavior by someone affiliated with the NFL, Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 by the league Monday for his flipping off of the Bills and their fans near the end of the Titans 41-17 win at LP Field in Nashville, a game that was tied 17 all going into the fourth quarter.

Now, Adams is 86.  Surely this kind of behavior is something you would expect from a juvenile delinquent, or some other malcontent, but not an owner of a NFL franchise, especially one that has been an owner for half a century.  It’s even more galling when you take into consideration the fact that Ralph Wilson, the owner of the Bills, is a fellow original AFL owner, is 90, a Hall of Famer and a class act.  Yes, there is history between the teams, from the Miracle at Rich, when the then Houston Oilers blew a 35-3 lead to lose 41-38 in overtime of the 1992 AFC Wild Card contest in a game that saw Buffalo play without Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas or Cornelius Bennett.

The history continued in 2000 with the “Music City Miracle”, when Kevin Dyson took a cross field lateral from Frank Wycheck and sped down the sideline on a kickoff return for an improbable touchdown that helped propel the franchise to their only Super Bowl.  Perhaps it was only irony, or maybe karma, that left Dyson and the Titans one yard shy of tying the Super Bowl as the clock expired against the Rams in the Super Bowl that year.

Adams released the following statement Monday before the league handed down their decision:

“I need to apologize for my actions yesterday near the end of the game. I got caught up in the excitement of a great day, but I do realize that those types of things shouldn’t happen. I need to specifically apologize to the Bills, their fans, our fans and the NFL.

“I obviously have a great deal of respect for [Bills owner] Ralph Wilson and the history we have shared. I also understand there will probably be league discipline for my actions and I will accept those.”

Of course, as always with a situation like any of these, you’ll have a fervor of uproar on both sides of the situation, either defending the choice or action, while others condemn it.  One thing that has become clear over recent years however, since Paul Tagliabue has stepped aside and Roger Goodell came to power, is that the league is cracking down and won’t tolerate some of the loosey goosey activities that were so prevalent during Pete Rozelle’s tenure.

So long, “Super Bowl Shuffle”.  We’ll miss ridiculously overblown and in some cases, stupid, celebrations like the “Ickey Shuffle”, Gus Frerotte slamming his head into the goalposts after scoring a touchdown, Bill Gramatica tearing a knee ligament after kicking a field goal against the Giants, or the Hamilton Tiger-Cats piling into a boat near the end zone and having one player pretending he was fishing, while a second mimicked being in a pedal boat.

It seems that the NFL really has gone back to what so many deem the “No Fun League.”

So, the other day, we spun around the AFC at the midway point and gave a quick synopsis of what’s happened, an overall grade, and their potential for the second half. I’m sure that the two Browns fans in the world left will be steamed about the F- I gave their franchise, but I’ll be honest. I only gave them a F-, because you can’t give them anything lower…like a Z.

With that said, let’s get cracking on the NFC and look over the streaking teams like New Orleans, the suddenly slumping ones like the Giants, and the doormats like Tampa, Detroit and the Rams shall we? You’ve got to love football, even if you’re a fan of a sad sack franchise. Right? Right? RIGHT?

Okay, so maybe I tried too hard to sell that last point. However, in my defense, I’m a Bills fan, so sue me for trying to make fans of those one win teams feel better…if there are any of you left.

NFC EAST

DALLAS COWBOYS (6-2) Grade: B+ The Cowboys were 2-2 and in overtime with the lowly Kansas City Chiefs before managing to escape that game with a win. They then proceeded to win three more in a row, including dispatching Atlanta and division rival Philadelphia to take over the divisional lead. Miles Austin has been seemingly the real deal playing opposite Roy Williams at WR. The three headed run game needs to be more effective, and Tony Romo needs to avoid flopping in December as he has been prone to doing. December’s schedule is nasty, with the Giants and New Orleans on the road, plus San Diego at home, with Philly coming to town in week 17. Fortunately, they also get Washington twice and Oakland.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (5-3) Grade: B- The Eagles are consistently inconsistent this season. They thump some bad teams (Kansas City, Carolina and Tampa for example) but lose to Oakland? Not only do they lose to Oakland, they score NINE points? They bomb the Giants, but can’t beat Dallas? They have great young playmakers like DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy and tight end Brent Celek, but they don’t perform on a constant basis. The Eagles need to get it together now because the schedule doesn’t get easier. Five road games (San Diego, Chicago, Atlanta, Giants and Dallas) dot the schedule, along with a trip to Denver.

NEW YORK GIANTS (5-4) Grade: C I just can’t see giving Tom Coughlin’s bunch a higher grade than this. That’s all they’ve been, is average. They started out like gangbusters, winning their first five out of the gate and becoming the trendy pick to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Since then, the wheels have fallen off, and in horrific fashion. The pass defense has been carved up like John Madden’s turducken. The Saints blew them away. The Cardinals came east and won in the Meadowlands, then Philadelphia steamrolled them. Last week, it was the Chargers rallying in the last minute to win and extend the skid. With the second half schedule showing Atlanta, at Denver, Dallas and Philadelphia the next four weeks out of the bye, it’s do or die for the Giants.

WASHINGTON REDSKINS (2-6) Grade: D- Since the Redskins started 6-2 last season under Jim Zorn, they’ve gone 2-6 and 2-6 in the next two half season splits. Those numbers don’t look good. They can’t score on offense, the line is a sieve, and with Chris Cooley gone, they have no real playmakers or solid receiving threats. DeAngelo Hall yaps more than he makes plays, and the Redskins are horrific to watch. They lost to the LIONS. The second half schedule is murderers row: Denver, at Dallas, at Philly, New Orleans, Giants, Dallas, at San Diego. The lone breather is Oakland. If Zorn goes 2-6 in this split, I’d be surprised.

NFC NORTH

MINNESOTA VIKINGS (7-1) Grade: A The Vikings have the one two punch offensively they needed to pair with Adrian Peterson by adding 94 year old Brett Favre to the mix at quarterback this season. So far, Favre has delivered, with a QB rating of 106.0, leading the league. Of course, Favre tends to fade in the second half of the seasons (remember 2008, Jets fans?), and it would be good for Brad Childress to get him some rest and prune juice before the playoffs if possible. Doormats Detroit and Seattle are next followed by a home game with the Bears. If they win those three, lock down the North. December is a bit more brutal as three of the five games are on the road (Arizona, Carolina, Chicago) and the home tilts are with Cincinnati and the Giants. The Vikes will make the playoffs, but how far will they go?

CHICAGO BEARS (4-5) Grade: C The Bears have been up and down. Pummel the Browns, get waxed by the Bengals and Cardinals. They’ve dropped four of five after Thursday night’s game with San Francisco in a game that was horrific to watch. Jay Cutler tossed five interceptions, raising his season and league leading total to 17. They can’t afford to lose many more games. Matt Forte went from a stud to almost forgotten: he had just five carries last week against Arizona. With Philadelphia, two with Minnesota, Green Bay and Baltimore still on the sked, the Bears need to crank it up, and that means on both sides of the ball. The line needs to give Jay Cutler time, and the defense needs to make some plays, and by plays, I don’t mean like Tommie Harris slugging Deuce Lutui.

GREEN BAY PACKERS (4-4) Grade: C- The Packers are as good as done when it comes to the division. They lost both matchups with Minnesota already this season, much to the disdain of the Favre hating fans that jammed Lambeau Field when Minnesota came to town a couple weeks back. They just don’t have the same mystique that they had at Lambeau before, as they are just 2-2 there. They also have three of their four wins against a trio of one win teams (Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis.) The only team they have beaten with multiple wins is the Bears in week one, and they LOST to the fourth one win team (Tampa) last week. Games with Dallas, Baltimore, at Pittsburgh, at Chicago and at Arizona will determine if Green Bay goes anywhere for the postseason or just home.

DETROIT LIONS (1-7) Grade: D I know what you’re saying to yourself: “WTF? He gave the Redskins a D- and da Browns a F-, but the Lions get a D?” Well, the Lions have gotten better, despite only having one win. However, that’s one more win than they had last season. They did battle Pittsburgh tough and took St. Louis to the limit, but blew a 17-0 lead to Seattle this past week. Kevin Smith needs to get the ground game going to prevent Matthew Stafford from having to throw on every down. The Lions at least have ONE good chance at a win in the second half: they play Cleveland on November 22.

NFC SOUTH

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (8-0) Grade: A+ The Saints have been rolling right on through this season, bulldozing teams and burning out scoreboards across the country. Even when they’re held in check, they still put up points (their low total so far on the season was 24 against the Jets. Factor in 27 against the Bills and they haven’t been lower than 30 in any other game, including four 40 point outbursts.) They have a pretty clear slate to the division title and most likely home field advantage: two with Tampa, St. Louis, Washington and Carolina all are on the schedule in the second half. The roadblocks to a potential perfect campaign? New England on Monday night November 30th, at Atlanta and then home against Dallas.

ATLANTA FALCONS (5-3) Grade: B The Falcons have done fairly well, despite some less than stellar play by Matt Ryan in recent weeks. Michael Turner is still grinding out yards, as shown by his 166 yard performance against Washington last week. Tony Gonzalez has been a nice addition to give Ryan a big target to hit in the middle of the field. Michael Jenkins still needs to develop into a solid #2 receiver or Atlanta will need to address that in the offseason. However, with the warts on some of the other contenders, they still have a good shot at making the playoffs.Two with Tampa Bay, Carolina, the Jets and Bills should get Atlanta at least four wins, and they would probably have to snare one from the trio of the Giants, Eagles and Saints to get to ten and punch their ticket.

CAROLINA PANTHERS (3-5) Grade: C- The Panthers survive one way, and one way only: by controlling the clock and pounding the ball on the ground. Case in point: Jake Delhomme’s passing yards in wins are as follows: 181, 65, 90. His passing yards in losses include two 300 yard games. The Panthers need DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart to tote the rock and keep the defense off the field. Control the clock, limit opponent’s chances to do damage. The Panthers have a tough slate ahead, starting with a home game with Atlanta this week. Road games with the Jets, Patriots and Giants loom as do home games with Minnesota and New Orleans. I don’t see this team getting to even 7 wins, much less the playoffs.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (1-7) Grade: D- The Bucs shed almost all their veteran core that was with them through the first part of the decade when the team was successful. In the overhaul, guys like Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn were shown the door. It’s a young team needing time and experience to improve. The defense has been a sieve, but they did make some big plays to beat Green Bay last week to break into the win column. Josh Freeman is the QB of the future, and the Bucs will build around him going forward. They won’t get anywhere this season, but check back in 2011 or so, and see what Tampa is doing.

NFC WEST

ARIZONA CARDINALS (5-3) Grade: B The Cards lead the division, not so much because they’ve been great, but because the rest of the division has taken a giant, stinky dump. The Cards have won four of five and look like they can really put a hammer on the division with wins over Seattle and the Rams the next two weeks. In fact, the only two games against winning teams in the second half are home contests with Minnesota and Green Bay. The Cardinals seem poised to repeat as division champs, but they’ll need to improve in the second half to make it a successful run like last season.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (4-5) Grade: C- The 49ers were fine, then they signed Michael Crabtree, and went in the toilet, dropping four straight. Shaun Hill was benched as starting QB and replaced with former first overall pick Alex Smith. They dropped two games they could have won on the road with Minnesota and Indianapolis, which would have them right with Arizona instead of below .500 and behind the eight ball. They did manage to open the second half with an ugly, and I do mean UGLY, win over Chicago on Thursday night. With Jacksonville, and games with Seattle, Detroit and St. Louis, the 49ers should be able to get to .500, but I don’t see them hitting the postseason this year.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (3-5) Grade: C- Not sold on anything about the Seahawks, especially those uniforms. What in the hell were they thinking with the color scheme? It hasn’t translated on the field either. Sure, Matt Hasselbeck was hurt, but Seneca Wallace wasn’t bad in his stead. The offensive line has been…well, offensive, and the run game hasn’t conjured images of Shaun Alexander, or even Curt Warner for that matter. It gets brutal fast in the second half: road games at Arizona and Minnesota could finish Seattle’s season early. Couple that with road trips to Houston and Green Bay, and a playoff miss is quite likely for the Hawks.

ST. LOUIS RAMS (1-7) Grade: F+ One could say that the Rams are on pace to match last season’s two win total. Not many people would be thrilled with that. You also can say that the Rams are on a one game win streak, but that can be tempered by the fact that the win was over one win Detroit. The team FINALLY got a rushing touchdown from Steven Jackson, on his 165th carry. Of course, Jackson is running well, as he has picked up 784 yards and four 100 yard games, but the lack of a pass game has really hurt the offense. Donnie Avery has not blossomed as much as management would have hoped. With games against New Orleans, Arizona twice, Chicago and Houston, the Rams still have a tough road to go. Their best bet to win another game would be a home game against Seattle at the end of November. Either way, this is a rebuilding project, plain and simple.

In the next piece, I’ll break down my picks for award winners, and why. We’ll see you next time, same station. As Billy Red Lyons would say, don’t you dare miss it.

It’s the midway point of the NFL season, and we have to start taking stock of what’s happened, what might happen, who’s still got a shot at the playoffs, and who continues to rebuild for next year.  This will be a brief, overall runthrough of the AFC today, then the NFC tomorrow and a quick synopsis grade of each team the way I see it so far this season, plus handicapping some awards.

We’ve got no winless teams left, as Tampa Bay had a virtual offensive explosion Sunday against Green Bay, putting up 38 points to knock off the Packers.  The Pack continue to see Raymond James Stadium as a house of horrors, as they are 1-7 in their last eight visits there.  We DO still have a pair of undefeated teams in the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints, who both are 8-0 after tough wins last week.  The Colts had to battle the Texans and hold on for a missed field goal at the gun by Kris Brown or the game would have gone to overtime, while the Saints were down 17-6 before rallying for a 30-20 win over Carolina.  In the Colts win, rookie coach Jim Caldwell became the first rookie coach to go 8-0 since Potsy Clark of the Portsmouth Spartans in 1931.

Let’s take a quick sprint around the AFC then, shall we?

AFC EAST

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (6-2)  Grade:  B+ I can’t put the Pats any higher than this, because realistically, they could and for that matter, SHOULD be worse than their current mark.  Had Leodis McKelvin not fumbled a kickoff in the dying minutes on Monday night in week 1, and Mark Clayton not dropped a pass in the flat in week 4, the Pats could be 4-4 instead of 6-2.  Sure, coulda, woulda, shoulda, didn’t.  Still doesn’t impress me, and with games at Indy, and at New Orleans sandwiched around a home game with the Jets, it could be rough seas for the Pats.

NEW YORK JETS (4-4)  Grade:  C+ Just not sold on the Jets either.  They started off hard charging, winning their first three, then looked like the Jets at the end of last season, as they dropped four of their next five to fall back to the .500 mark on the season.  They’ll miss Leon Washington’s explosiveness as a change of pace back and in the return game.  Mark Sanchez needs to learn on the fly starting NOW, and losing twice to Miami and once to Buffalo in the division does not help their playoff hopes.  Still games at New England and Indianapolis, with the latter the filling of a home game sandwich featuring Atlanta and Cincinnati.

MIAMI DOLPHINS (3-5)  Grade:  C- The Fins are an up and down team that can’t keep teams down when they have the chance.  They could easily be 5-3 instead of 3-5.  They dominated time of possession against Indianapolis, but couldn’t make enough plays when they needed to.  They led big against New Orleans 24-3 right before the half, only to get outscored 43-10 the rest of the way.  They are benefitted by having their three wins all within the division, but that may not be enough.  Chad Henne is still a young QB and lacks a bona fide #1 receiver to throw to.  That could haunt Miami, as their run game has been solid.  Their three toughest games left (New England, Houston and Pittsburgh) are all at home.

BUFFALO BILLS (3-5)  Grade:  D I don’t know what to say about the Bills in all honesty.  They want to go to the no huddle, then they chuck it.  They have a green offensive line, but they want to try and play the vertical passing game.  They have two talented wide receivers in Terrell Owens and Lee Evans, but they dink and dunk the ball.  The run defense is leakier than a beer keg near Barney Gumbel, and special teams directly attributed to two losses (New England and Cleveland.)  Dick Jauron is on life support, and Ralph Wilson is getting ready to sign the DNR papers.  The last three games of the year (New England, at Atlanta, Indianapolis) will be a painful end to a brutal season.

AFC NORTH

CINCINNATI BENGALS (6-2) Grade:  A- Come on, raise your hand if you thought the Bengals were going to be good?  Let’s see, liar, liar, liar, mental patient, liar.  Now that we covered that, let’s move on.  The Bungles are 4-0 in the division, and have beaten both Pittsburgh and Baltimore, along with a throttling of the Bears a couple weeks ago.  They are looking good as Carson Palmer has rebounded from the elbow injury that cost him most of last year and reclamation project Cedric Benson has run for 837 yards.  The Bengals look poised for a playoff run.  After this week against Pittsburgh the next three are against doormats (at Oakland, then home against Cleveland and Detroit.)  Road games at Minnesota, San Diego and the Jets in December and January are the only worries right now.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS (6-2)  Grade:  A- The defending Super Bowl champs started losing two of their first three, both close affairs in the dying moments of the fourth quarter, before rebounding to win five straight.  The team has to stay healthy and win the key games (prime among them Sunday and then the two with Baltimore.)  At Miami and Green Bay at home loom as tough contests too.  Mike Wallace has stepped in nicely for Nate Washington.

BALTIMORE RAVENS (4-4)  Grade:  C The Ravens have been a middling team this season.  They have had chances to win games late and failed to come through.  Their three losses before this week’s ten point defeat to Cincinnati, which came at the hands of New England, the Bengals and the Vikings, were by a combined eleven points.  The defense has become ordinary, and after not allowing a 100 yard rusher for almost two full seasons, it’s happened three times in four games.  When the D is decent, the O stinks, like this past week.  They still have Pittsburgh twice, at Green Bay and a home date with Chicago.  It might be too much to ask.

CLEVELAND BROWNS (1-7)  Grade:  F- Is there anything you can say about the Browns?  They dealt their two pass receiving threats (Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards), and shuffled quarterbacks (Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson and now back to Brady Quinn.)  Jamal Lewis has said he’ll retire at the end of the year.  They can’t stop anyone.  They can’t move the ball.  About all they can do is punt, and no one is touting Dave Zastudil as the next Ray Guy.  Next.

AFC SOUTH

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (8-0)  Grade:  A+ Can you argue with a perfect record?  The Colts have won gritty, ugly, pretty and in blowout form.  They’ve done it with injuries on both sides of the ball.  They will face some tough contests coming up though, starting with New England this Sunday night.  Then it’s road games at Baltimore and Houston plus a home game with Denver.  However, the Colts have a stranglehold on the AFC South and are just biding their time, trying to lock up home field advantage.

HOUSTON TEXANS (5-4)  Grade:  C+: The Texans are a team that is puzzling, as they can play with most competition, and then flop when you least expect it.  They need the bye to regroup after the tough loss to the Colts, as they’ll play three straight division games out of the bye, and still have Miami and New England on the docket as well.  They’ll need to win five of seven probably to get in.  Daunting task when you factor the Colts and Pats as two of those seven.  Steve Slaton needs to get past his fumblitis and start being a productive contributor to the offense.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (4-4)  Grade:  C-: The Jags would be a lot better if they followed a simple offensive credo:  Give the damn ball to Maurice Jones-Drew.  MJD has 737 rushing yards and 30 catches out of the backfield plus a league leading eleven touchdowns.  How can you NOT give him the rock?  The Jags can get right and in the playoff mix with easy games the next few weeks (at Jets, Buffalo, at San Fran) before dealing with back to back to back home games against Houston, Miami and Indy, then a road contest against the Pats.  If they get to 7-4, they have a shot.

TENNESSEE TITANS (2-6)  Grade:  D The Titans started last year 10-0, only to come back this year and start 0-6.  They’ve won two straight since then to get to 2-6, with Vince Young replacing 78 year old Kerry Collins under center.  Of course, you could get Babe Parilli out of retirement to do what VY is doing most of the time: turning around and handing the ball off to Chris Johnson, who is lightning quick and a threat to go the distance on ANY play.  The Titans have a chance at some form of respectability with games against Buffalo, St. Louis, and Seattle, but don’t expect anything big.

AFC WEST

DENVER BRONCOS (6-2)  Grade:  B The Broncos would have gotten a better grade had they not been exposed as seeming frauds the last two weeks, being throttled by AFC North teams Baltimore and Pittsburgh, in which they were outscored by a combined 58-17, and only scored one offensive touchdown in that span.  Sure, the Broncos still lead the division, but the Chargers are coming fast in the rear view and Denver knows about collapsing late in the season to them.  The big game for Denver is 11/22 against San Diego.  Thanksgiving Day against the struggling Giants might not be a picnic either, and road games in Indy and Philly are going to test the Broncos.  Still a likely playoff team though despite it all.

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS (5-3)  Grade:  B- Who would have thought the Chargers would be dead last in the league running the ball?  Who would have thought that Chris Chambers would be cut and not even missed?  Who would have figured that the Bolts would have won three straight, including a last minute win Sunday over Eli Manning and the Giants in the Meadowlands?  San Diego needs to run the ball better in the second half to give Philip Rivers a break, and with the schedule (Philly, @Denver, @Dallas, Cincinnati), they’d like at least a split of those four.

OAKLAND RAIDERS (2-6)  Grade:  D- It’s another year of “who cares about the Raiders after September?”  They played well the first couple weeks, and did upset Philadelphia, but have been waxed repeatedly, dropping four games by at least 20 points, and only scoring 20 once (in week one.)  The Raiders have stuck with JaMarcus Russell (7-17 as a starter), have no real receiving threats to speak of, no pride, and people are wondering if Al Davis has gone senile.  They DO get games with Kansas City, Cleveland and Washington, so maybe they can end up with four or five wins.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (1-7)  Grade:  F+ The Chiefs have been a team of turmoil.  They cut loose Larry Johnson this week after his comments about head coach Todd Haley and a gay slur toward the media.  Matt Cassel has not played nearly as well as he did with New England.  While he hasn’t been terrible, he’s also not throwing to Randy Moss, Wes Welker and company, nor does he have a Pro Bowl line in front of him.  The Chiefs will need to figure out what to do in the run game, and have a nasty second half schedule, with Pittsburgh, San Diego, Denver twice, and Cincinnati on the docket.  They might battle the Bucs, Rams and Lions for the first overall pick.

That’s the AFC in a rundown…next time we’ll take a look at the NFC.  Stay tuned.

What was once a perennial powerhouse in pro football has turned into a shambles.  A team with a proud history, a loyal fanbase, and a history of talented, respected players has turned into the biggest laughingstock this side of the XFL.

I’m talking, of course, about the Cleveland Browns.  The Browns were a great team back in the years of the AAFC, and were a dominant force in the NFL during the 40s and 50s.  They had Jim Brown as the face of the franchise for nine years, and when he retired, he was the league’s leading rusher in history.  Otto Graham was a top notch quarterback in the early years, and Lou Groza was one of the top kickers in the league.

Even in the 1980s, the Browns were tough under coach Marty Schottenheimer, losing two heartwrenching AFC Championship Games to the Denver Broncos on “The Drive” and “The Fumble”.  Still, they had Bernie Kosar, Kevin Mack, Webster Slaughter, and blue collar stars like Clay Matthews at middle linebacker and Brian Brennan playing wide receiver.  The Browns faded in the early 1990s, and not even a coach by the name of Bill Belichick could turn their fortunes around.  Then, in 1996, owner Art Modell did the unthinkable:  he packed up and moved the team to Baltimore, ironically the last city to get bamboozled out of a team in the dead of night.  In 1983, the Colts and Jim Irsay loaded up and went west to Indianapolis, which was the last move of a franchise before Modell.

That triggered a whole different set of backlash, where the city sued Modell, and a compromise was reached where the Browns would come back in 1999, with no players, or pieces of the franchise, just the history of it.  They’d keep the team name and colors, while Modell took everything else with him to Maryland.  That left the city seething, and it wasn’t a fire that was easily quelled, especially with the “talent” that the Browns had in 1999 when they came back picking from the dregs of the league like regular expansion teams did.  They would go 2-14 in their opening campaign, scoring 10 points or less in half their contests.

The Browns drafted Tim Couch with the first overall pick, heralding him as the future of the franchise.  However, he was injury prone, and was out of the league by the end of the 2003 season, a washout at the age of 26.  They followed that up with the first overall pick in 2000, and picked defensive end Courtney Brown, who was gone from Cleveland after 2004, and out of the league after 2005, at the age of 27, totaling just nineteen career sacks to his credit.  Their next two first round picks were duds as well, as Gerard Warren was out of Cleveland after 2004 as well, and William Green was out of the NFL in 2005 at the age of 26.

It’s no surprise that with this poor history of drafting, that the team has struggled since its return to the NFL, as they’ve posted just two winning seasons and one playoff appearance in this now their eleventh season.  The team has had personnel changes, both on and off the field, poor drafting, and have suffered more than their fair share of injuries.  However, good teams can overcome such things.  The Browns, quite simply, are not a good team, or even a quality impersonation of a good team.

That trend has continued into this season.  Romeo Crennel was ousted as head coach at the end of last season, and was replaced by former Jets coach Eric Mangini.  Mangini then went out and added former players that he was familiar with in New York, thinking it would help the transition.  So far, it’s been a complete bust:  Cleveland is 1-7, their lone win one of the ugliest games in the HISTORY of the NFL, 6-3 over the Buffalo Bills in a game decided by a fumble by Bills punt returner Roscoe Parrish in the closing minutes deep in his own territory.  Their offense has been horrendous, and the defense has given up the most yards in the league so far.  Things have gotten so bad in Cleveland that the owner, Randy Lerner, has already met with Mangini to tell him his job was safe for now.

However, things were not quite so fortuitous, if you look at employment as beneficial, for GM George Kokinis, who was fired earlier this week.  Kokinis was handpicked by Mangini and was hired in January of this year, meaning he lasted barely ten months on the job before being removed.  Lerner made the statement less than 24 hours before the firing that he wanted to find a “credible, serious leader” for the organization to try and save what is clearly a sinking ship.

Kokinis was hardly noticeable within the franchise, according to anyone within the team.  Pro Bowl tackle Joe Thomas said that “He wasn’t around too much, and when he was, he was pretty quiet.”   That’s not really the mentality you want from a GM.  Granted, you don’t need a bombastic, over the top kind of individual, but to have a virtual wallflower doesn’t really cut it either.  One has to wonder if Kokinis actually could think for himself or if he was merely a puppet of Mangini all round.  Either way, I wouldn’t bet that Mangini has much in the way of job security either at this stage of the game, given the poor performance on the field and the “assets” brought in during free agency, while dealing away the team’s two prime playmakers in Kellen Winslow Jr,  and Braylon Edwards, who ironically, went to the Jets.

One positive step that Lerner has taken in attempting to rebuild the franchise and some good will with the remaining eight or nine fans of the team started with the hiring of Bernie Kosar as a consultant.  Then, earlier this week, he met for two hours with “Mad Dog Mike”, aka Mike Randall, and Tony Schafer, two die hard Browns fans of the “Dawg Pound” section of Cleveland Browns Stadium, to address their concerns.  Randall had been circulating a petition among Browns ticket holders in that area to stay out of their seats until after the opening kickoff of their nationally televised game on November 16th against the Ravens to protest the futility of the franchise.

Are the Browns going to ever find their way back to the days of dominance?  Most likely not in this day of free agency and leaguewide parity.  Will they be able to stumble and claw their way to mediocrity, like a drunk guy falling up some stairs?  This is a viable possibility.   A lot will lie in who Lerner gets to add to the consulting team and general manager role.  There has been talk that long time consultant Ernie Accorsi was on a short list, and that former Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer could also be considered.  Other than that, you have plenty of former coaches with Super Bowl credentials that are available:  Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren, Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden, Mike Shanahan, and Jim Fassel, for starters.  There are plenty of quality coaches available, but the burning question that lays out there like the Sword of Damocles is:  do any of them WANT the job?

Stay tuned.

You can’t even count on the season and the games to actually be played.  The NBA had a lockout in 2004-05 that led to the season being shortened to 50 games.  Major League Baseball had their strike in 1994, depriving the Montreal Expos, who had the best record in the league, a chance at the postseason.  There was no World Series that year, and the 1995 season got off to a late start as well due to these incidents.  The NHL has suffered twice in the past fifteen years from labor strife:  at the end of the 93-94 season, there was a lockout that prevented the 94-95 season starting on time, and led to an abbreviated 48 game slate.  Then after the 2003-04 season, more labor strife and the fight over a salary cap led to another lockout, this one wiping out the entire 2004-05 campaign.  The NFL has had labor troubles before, but you have to go back to 1982, when the season was shortened to nine games, and then 1987, when one game was lost, and a few others were played with replacement players, to find any serious work stoppages.

The players?   Not in this era of free agency, trades and players going to the highest bidder.  Players are more like rentals than long term investments as they were in previous generations.  Rare is the player that spends his entire career in one locale and becomes an icon in a city.  Heck, most of the time you can’t even keep players in college for a full four years, provided they go at all, which is a trend on the upswing, especially in basketball.

So what is the one constant you find in sports then?  If not the teams, the cities, the players, or the games themselves?  What’s left?  In a word:  upsets.

You see upsets litter the sports landscape on a daily basis, though they of course, are more pronounced in bowl games, playoff series, and contests where it is win or go home.  Don’t think they happen?  Ask the Patriots, who took an 18-0 mark into the Super Bowl against the Giants two years ago.  They patented 19-0, and were expected to win.  An improbable catch, where David Tyree pinned the ball against his helmet and a touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone to Plaxico Burress a few plays later, and the Patriots were out of the lead, and shortly thereafter, out of luck and time.  Ironically, neither of those receivers are still with the Giants:  Tyree was cut in the offseason after an injury plagued 2008, and Burress is in prison after accepting a plea in a weapons case that stemmed from an incident in a nightclub last year.

With it being election season in the US, why not talk about a few upsets?  After all, they happen in sports and politics.

The antics and exploits of Joe Willie Namath: The New York Jets were 18 point underdogs going into Super Bowl III, despite being the AFL champions.  They would face the 13-1 NFL champions, the Baltimore Colts.  This was actually the first game called the Super Bowl, the previous two were the AFL/NFL Championship Game, and were called the Super Bowl retroactively.

The Colts were led by Earl Morrall, who stepped in for Johnny Unitas, who had suffered an elbow injury early on in the season.  Morrall led the league in quarterback rating (93.2), threw for 2909 yards and 26 TD passes.  Tom Matte was the Pro Bowl running back, and they also featured deep threats in Jimmy Orr and Willie Richardson to go along with bruising tight end John Mackey.  Defensively, the Colts were dominating, as they entered on a ten game win streak, during which they allowed just seven touchdowns.  They allowed just 144 points on the season.  Their trip to the Super Bowl was complete when they pummeled the Cleveland Browns 34-0 in the NFL Championship, avenging their lone loss of the season.

The Jets were 11-3, and were led by the cocky Namath, who threw for 3147 yards despite completing just 49.2 percent of his throws and having more interceptions than TD passes (17-15.)  Matt Snell was the leading rusher, while Don Maynard and George Sauer were the big receiving targets, both men eclipsing the 1000 yard mark on the year.  Jim Turner booted 34 field goals and 43 PAT’s for a total of 145 points.  The Jets run defense was the best in the league as well, allowing just 1195 yards total on the season with the ground game.

After winning the AFL championship, Namath said there were at least four quarterbacks in the AFL, including himself and his backup, 38-year old Babe Parilli, who were better than Earl Morrall.  Despite the Jets’ accomplishments, AFL teams were generally not regarded as having the same caliber of talent as NFL teams. However, three days before the game, Namath appeared at the Miami Touchdown Club and boldly predicted to the audience, “We’re (Jets) gonna win the game. I guarantee it.” Namath later claimed he only made his famous “guarantee” in response to a rowdy Colts fan at the club, who boasted the Colts would easily defeat the Jets. Namath later claimed he never intended to make such a public prediction, and never would have done so if he had not been confronted by the fan.

Of course, the rest is history.  Snell scored on a four yard run, Turner booted three field goals, and the Colts did not score until the final minutes of the contest.  Namath was 17 of 28 for 206 yards with no TD passes while being named MVP.  He is the only QB to be named MVP while not throwing a touchdown pass.  The Colts turned the ball over five times, four deep in Jet territory, missed two field goals, and were punchless in a 16-7 defeat.

Buster Douglas stuns Mike Tyson: The date was February 11, 1990, the place the Tokyo Dome in Japan.  Buster Douglas was fighting Mike Tyson for the heavyweight championship of the world.

Almost everyone assumed that the fight was going to be another quick Mike Tyson KO. Only one betting parlor in Las Vegas would hold odds for the fight, and many thought it was just a gag as Tyson was favored 42-1. Douglas surprised the world by dominating the fight from the beginning, using his 12″ reach advantage to perfection, seemingly hitting Tyson at will with jabs and right hands and getting out of range when Tyson launched his own punches. Tyson did not bob and weave and slip his way in—his usual strategy—but rather set his feet and went for the big punch, standing straight up and often lunging in. By the fifth round the champion’s left eye had swollen shut from Douglas landing so many right hands, and Tyson’s corner was grossly unprepared. They had not brought an endswell to the fight so they put lukewarm water into a latex glove and held it over his eye; this was to no avail as it got worse and worse. Tyson told his corner that he would KO Douglas in the 8th, and he almost achieved this, knocking Douglas down with a right uppercut at the end of that very round. But Douglas returned shaken to his feet at the count of six. Then, in the 10th round, boxing history was made as Buster Douglas scored arguably the biggest upset in boxing history.

Tyson looked tired and flat footed from the start of the tenth round, and Douglas tested the champion at around the 55 second mark with a series of left jabs, only one of which Tyson partially blocked. Then at one minute and five seconds of round ten, Douglas continued forward and landed a devastating right uppercut which visibly jarred Tyson’s head. Douglas immediately followed this with a right-left-right-left series of four hard hooks and straight shots, which floored the already dazed Tyson for the first time in his boxing career. When Tyson failed to climb to his feet in time, having in a delirium picked up his mouthpiece and stuck it into his mouth sideways, leaving it hanging halfway out of his mouth, the fight was ruled over, Tyson had been counted out, and Douglas had shocked the world by defeating “Iron Mike” and becoming the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World. The public reaction was encapsulated by the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine, with the headline “Rocky Lives!”, an allusion to the fictional boxing hero Rocky Balboa who, against all odds, KO’d the champion.

Douglas tearfully dedicated his dramatic victory to his mother, who had died of a stroke shortly before the bout. After the fight, he talked about his religion and said he was not scared of Tyson.

Villanova shoots the lights out on Georgetown: In 1985, under the direction of coach Rollie Massimino, the men’s basketball team completed one of the most surprising runs in NCAA tournament history by winning the national championship in the first year of the 64-team field. The eighth-seeded Wildcats beat Dayton, then upset top-seeded Michigan, Maryland and second-seeded North Carolina to win the Southeast Regional en route to the Final Four in Lexington, Kentucky. After defeating 2-seed Memphis State, the only non Big East school in the Final Four, in the national semifinals, Villanova met defending champion and ten-point-favorite Georgetown, led by Patrick Ewing, in the title game.

Top-seeded Georgetown had beaten conference rival Villanova twice during the regular season, and had reached the title game with tenacious defense, which gave up less than 40% of their opponents’ shots from the field in both the regular season and the postseason. But in perhaps the greatest shooting performance in NCAA history, the Wildcats went 22-of-28 from the field to convert a blistering 78.6% of their shots, including a second half where they missed only one basket. The Hoyas hung tough, converting 55% of their 53 attempts, but were unable to overcome the astounding shooting performance as Villanova won 66-64 to claim the NCAA championship. The Wildcat squad remains the only eight-seed and the lowest overall seed in tournament history to win the championship, and their overall team shooting percentage remains an NCAA tournament record for a single game. The game is often cited among the greatest upsets in college basketball history.  Ed Pinckney, who shot 5-of-7 and had 16 points in the game, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

Man O’ War suffers an Upset: In Man o’ War’s only loss, the Sanford Memorial Stakes, he still was circling with his back to the starting line when the barrier was raised (though other accounts give other reasons, such as it was rigged.). After the jockey got Man o’ War turned around, he already was far behind the pack. In frustration, Johnny Loftus, the jockey, made three major errors while in the race. Three times he put Man O’ War in bad positions, getting boxed in by other horses in the race. Despite this, he still came close to winning, losing by only a half-length, as Man O’ War charged across the finish line, going much faster than any other horse on the field, and ultimately finishing second. The horse that won was Upset, whose name is sometimes thought to have popularized a new phrase in sports (“upset” meaning an upstart beating the favorite). Also quite interesting is the fact that Upset’s jockey’s middle name was Sanford. Man o’ War finished his 2-year-old campaign winning 9 of 10 races.

Upset’s defeat of Man o’ War was the only loss that he would suffer in 21 career races, that saw him rack up $249,465 in purses, then sired 64 stakes winners and 200 champion horses.  Still, the Sanford Memorial Stakes loss still haunts horse racing to this day.

North Carolina State shocks Houston: North Carolina State, coached by Jim Valvano, won the national title with a 54-52 victory in the final game over Houston, coached by Guy Lewis. The ending of the final is one of the most famous in college basketball history, with Lorenzo Charles’ dunk at the buzzer off a high, arching alley-oop pass from 30 feet out by Dereck Whittenburg providing the final margin. This contributed to the nickname given to North Carolina State, the “Cardiac Pack”, a reference to their often close games that came down to the wire — in fact, the team won 7 of its last 9 games after trailing with a minute left in the game. Both Charles’ dunk and Valvano’s running around the court in celebration immediately after the game have been staples of NCAA tournament coverage ever since. North Carolina State’s victory has often been considered the greatest upset in college basketball history and one of the best in sports history.

Akeem Olajuwon of Houston was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, becoming the last player to date to earn this award while playing for a team that failed to win the national title.

Then of course, there is my personal favorite:

Flutie to Phelan: In a game played before a huge television audience the day after Thanksgiving, November 23, 1984, it was Flutie throwing a 48 yard Hail Mary to Gerald Phalen as the clock expired to give the Boston College Eagles a stunning 47-45 win over the Miami Hurricanes, who were led by quarterback Bernie Kosar.  Flutie got the ball back trailing 45-41 with just 28 seconds to go, and went to work.  In three plays, the Eagles had moved to the Hurricanes 48 with six seconds to play.  The rest, as they say, is history:

Flutie called the “55 Flood Tip” play, in which the receivers were to run straight routes to the end zone. Then they were to tip the football to another receiver. Flutie scrambled to his right, narrowly averting a sack. He threw the football from his own 37-yard line, requiring the 5′ 9″ quarterback to throw the ball at least 63 yards against 30 mph winds, after having already thrown the football 45 times throughout the course of the game. The Miami defensive backs doubted Flutie’s ability to throw the ball into the end zone, so they paid no attention to Phelan as he ran behind them. The ball came straight down over the mass of players, untouched, into Phelan’s arms for the 47-45 win for the Eagles.

Flutie to Phelan \”Miracle in Miami\”

Plus with it being election season here, how could I resist putting this one in?

“The Body” becomes “The Mind”: Jesse Ventura ran for Governor of Minnesota in 1998 as the nominee for the Reform Party of Minnesota (he later joined the Independence Party of Minnesota when the Reform Party broke from its association with the Reform Party of the United States of America). His campaign consisted of a combination of aggressive grassroots events and original television spots, designed by quirky adman Bill Hillsman, using the phrase “Don’t vote for politics as usual.” He spent considerably less than his opponents (about $300,000) and was a pioneer in his using the Internet as a medium of reaching out to voters in a political campaign.

He won the election in November 1998, narrowly (and unexpectedly) defeating the major-party candidates, St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman (Republican) and Minnesota Attorney General Hubert H. “Skip” Humphrey III (Democratic-Farmer-Labor). After his victory, bumper stickers and T-shirts bearing the slogan “My governor can beat up your governor” appeared in Minnesota. The nickname “Jesse ‘The Mind’” (from a last-minute Hillsman ad featuring Ventura posing as Rodin’s Thinker) began to resurface sarcastically in reference to his frequently controversial remarks. Ventura’s old stage name “Jesse ‘The Body’” (sometimes adapted to “Jesse ‘The Governing Body’”) also continued to appear with some regularity.

Suddenly, Jesse “The Body” had transformed into Jesse “The Mind” and the world, quite frankly, would never quite be the same again.

Just remember the next time you’re sitting down to watch some of your favorite sporting events that though things might look bleak at the second, that there ALWAYS is a chance for an upset.

Ever since 1998, when Tennessee defeated Florida State 23-16 in the Fiesta Bowl, the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS, has run rampant on college football.  It was supposed to deliver a clear cut national champion, #1 vs. #2, in a no holds barred, winner take all battle.  The reasoning was to pit the best of the best, instead of a bunch of “disorganized, haphazard bowl selections where some bowls were making decisions on who to invite after seven or eight games of the regular season.”  In short, it was supposed to be a positive for the sport.

Instead, all it has bred is controversy, contempt, chaos and most importantly, calls for change.

As the 2009 season barrels on into November, there still are slightly more than a handful of unbeaten teams remaining.  Yet, the way it looks, only 3, and perhaps four, have a true legitimate shot at playing for the national title come January if they continue to play out the string.  At least one is destined to take a loss, as if both Florida and Alabama win out, they would face each other in the SEC Championship Game.  Texas still has a matchup in the Big 12 title game, and provided they avoid being upset by Kansas, they would be undefeated.  The Big 12 North is rather weak this year, as evidenced by Kansas State leading the division with a 3-2 conference record at the moment.

There also is Iowa, who is unbeaten in the Big 10, and looks to win their first outright conference title in quite a while.  However, they’ve been hurt by ugly wins over such football powerhouses as Northern Iowa, where they needed two blocked field goals in the dying seconds to win, and Arkansas State, where they prevailed by just three.  They beat Michigan by 2, then had to score on the last play of the game to get by Michigan State.  This past week, Ricky Stanzi didn’t throw an incompletion in the second half.  Unfortunately, four of those were to Indiana players, and Iowa needed four fourth quarter touchdowns to get by the Hoosiers.  They still have a gritty Northwestern squad and Ohio State looming on their docket.

Then there are the trio of “mid major” conference teams that are unbeaten.  Cincinnati, who leads the Big East, TCU in the Mountain West, and Boise State in the WAC, are all unbeaten and ranked 5th, 6th and 7th in the latest BCS rankings released this week.  The Bearcats have a tough road ahead with Connecticut, West Virginia, a struggling Illinois team and then a season closing battle with #13 Pittsburgh.  If they can run the table, one would have to think that they could be in consideration for a bid, but I still don’t see them jumping into the top two.  They’d get a BCS bid, but they wouldn’t be playing for the national title.

TCU is another team that will get stymied by the level of competition they play.  Yes, they did beat ACC teams Virginia and Clemson this season.  They also thrashed then #16 BYU, but teams like Texas State, Air Force and UNLV don’t really impress the voters all that much.  Neither does New Mexico or Wyoming, two of the remaining opponents for the Horned Frogs.  Their best chance to impress left is when they face #14 Utah in two weeks, and even that won’t propel them up the rankings I don’t believe.

That leads us to the seemingly perennial fly in the BCS’ ointment, Boise State.  The Broncos busted their way into the BCS a couple years ago and used a hook and ladder and the Statue of Liberty play to stun Oklahoma.  They’re back again this year with a new cast of characters and showing no signs of slowing down.  They knocked off Oregon in week one, in a game that saw Ducks running back LeGarrette Blount get suspended for a postgame punch to Boise State’s Byron Hout.  The problem is, the Broncos haven’t played anyone with name recognition since.  Miami of Ohio, Fresno State, Bowling Green, UC Davis, Tulsa, Hawaii, and San Jose State have all fallen as victims.  Louisiana Tech, Idaho, Utah State, Nevada and New Mexico State all remain on the slate for the Broncos.  Now, yes, Nevada is undefeated in conference play, and Idaho has won seven of nine this season, but are they to be considered contenders?  I think not, unless you’re talking contenders for a second or third tier bowl game.  After all, Idaho’s two losses were to Washington and then to Nevada 70-45.  Nevada dropped their first three of the season, to Notre Dame (35-0), Colorado State (35-20) and Missouri (31-21).  It was only after getting into conference play that they started clicking.

Where does this leave us in the grand scheme of things?  Well, at the second, it leaves us the same place that college football fans have been since the beginning:  wanting.  A playoff system like what the FCS has would rectify a lot of issues, but conference honchos are up in arms, probably over the amount of potential revenue lost for their conferences and individual schools from said bowl games.  BCS conferences received $17.5 million in revenues last season for teams appearing in a contest.  There has been talk that Senator Orrin Hatch has petitioned President Barack Obama to spearhead an antitrust investigation into the BCS.

Do I like the Bowl Championship Series?  No.  Do I think that anything will be changed?  Probably not.  Would I be a proponent of the playoff system if they rolled something out?  Certainly.  Could you imagine pro sports going to something like the BCS?  There’d be a mutiny.  Fans and teams would be working together, storming the league offices in droves, seeking answers and their pound of flesh.  Is that what it will take to get the NCAA to quit turning a deaf ear to the situation?

We’ll see.

At some point in a troubled athlete’s career, their penchant for off the field issues leads their employer to cut them loose.  Allen Iverson, Keyshawn Johnson, Ron Artest, Terrell Owens and others have burned their bridges with multiple organizations and in the long run, shortened their careers or earning potential.

Now, it seems Larry Johnson is primed to hit the talented player/troublemaker scrap heap as well.  Johnson got himself in hot water again after using Twitter to utter gay slurs toward coach Todd Haley and questioning his credentials.  Then the next day, Johnson again used gay slurs in his dealing with the media.  Haley spoke out Tuesday saying that they were taking the matter seriously and in fact, sent him home before announcing the suspension.

Johnson was suspended by the Chiefs for the second time in as many years this week, following another lackluster performance that dropped the team to a record of 1-6. This is all despite the offseason additions of Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel to add veteran leadership to a rebuilding franchise.  They were belted 37-7 by San Diego at Arrowhead Stadium, a place where the Chiefs once were seemingly invincible, but have become almost Detroit Lions like in their futility recently.

Last season, Johnson was benched by then coach Herm Edwards for three games and then suspended for one by commissioner Roger Goodell after a pair of incidents in nightclubs last year.  The organization announced that he would be suspended until November 9th, or what is a one game suspension.  The Chiefs are off this week and play Jacksonville next week, a suspension that will cost Johnson over $600,000 in lost wages.  It has been said that Johnson is going to appeal as well, though how effective that will be may remain to be seen.

Johnson turns 30 later this year, and after this incident, one has to wonder just how much tread he has left on the wheels at this point.  He’s worn out his welcome more than likely in Kansas City, especially after his grumbling about wanting to be dealt during the debacle that was the 2008 season.  His numbers have plummeted faster than the fortunes of the music group Fountains of Wayne.  After back to back 1700 yard seasons in 2005 and 2006 when he went to the Pro Bowl, Johnson has been injured or suspended in each of the last three seasons.

He missed eight games in 2007, rushing for just 559 yards and three touchdowns.  Last year was the off field incidents that led to him missing four contests, and guaranteeing he wouldn’t reach 1000 yards.  So far this year, the numbers are absolutely anemic:  358 yards on 132 carries for a paltry 2.7 yards a carry and no touchdowns.  After combining for 40 touchdowns in 2005 and 2006, he’s totaled just nine since.    He’s less than 100 yards from supplanting Priest Holmes as the all time leading rusher in the history of the franchise, but there are rumblings that he may never play another down in a Chiefs uniform.

In a piece today in USA Today, former Chiefs and Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer voices the same opinion that I myself, and many people around the league are curious of:  does anyone really even WANT LJ with his litany of off field issues, team disruptive behavior and declining production?  After all, his numbers and issues seem to parallel Shaun Alexander, formerly of the Seahawks.  Alexander had two huge back to back years in 2004 and 2005, totaling over 3500 yards rushing and 48 touchdowns.  After that?  In 27 games over three seasons, ironically the same number Johnson has played since his two year run, he racked up just 1636 yards and 12 scores.  Last season he played just four games for the Washington Redskins, where he ran 11 times for a meager 24 yards.  Currently, he’s unsigned and probably out of the league for good at 32

Here was Schottenheimer’s quote that appeared in the USA Today, which was on Sirius Satellite Radio earlier this week:

“Let me ask you this, of the other 31 teams in the National Football League, who in the world is going to bring him into their locker room? Whether they’re losing or, certainly they won’t if they’re winning. But, to me, the guy doesn’t have the skill level to warrant the kind of b.s. that they’re putting up with out there and I would not be surprised to see them run him right out of town.”

When you factor that most teams have a franchise back (Maurice Jones-Drew, Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte), solid, versatile players (Marshawn Lynch, Ray Rice, Thomas Jones), or solid tandems (Thomas Jones/Shonn Greene with Leon Washington out, Reggie Bush/Mike Bell/Pierre Thomas, Ahmad Bradshaw/Brandon Jacobs, LaDainian Tomlinson/Darren Sproles, etc.), options are obviously limited.  A team that has good chemistry would automatically avoid a troublemaker like Johnson, which would eliminate teams like Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Denver, New Orleans, and others.  Floundering teams would pass as well, because what good would it do them?  You won’t see Tennessee, Detroit, Tampa Bay or the like chasing after Johnson should he hit the market.

What’s left?  Canada?  That didn’t work out so well for Charles Rogers.  The UFL?  Let’s see if it even exists next season, when you look around the “talent pool” that exists in the league.  Arena football isn’t in business anymore after closing up shop earlier this year due to a lack of funds.  How many chances does a guy like LJ really deserve with the way the league is these days?  We heard all kinds of fallout from people far and wide regarding Mike Vick’s reinstatement.  Every time Chad Ochocinco goes off, or Ray Lewis makes a comment, there is a public outcry, one way or the other, good or bad.  Yet, we haven’t heard much from most people regarding Johnson and his issues.

The way it looks, Johnson may have run out of real estate, and with it, ground to a halt what once was a promising career.  It will remain to see what Kansas City does, but this is just another example of open mouth, insert foot, only on the grandest of scales.

In what be one of the more shocking results in sports this week, and let’s face it, it’s been a ridiculous week for stories, it’s come out that Hulk Hogan, who ushered in the Golden Age of professional wrestling a quarter century ago, has signed a contract with TNA Wrestling.

Hogan, who hasn’t been in an actual match since wrestling Randy Orton at Summerslam in 2006, while his reality show “Hogan Knows Best” was still running on VH1, and has had physical ailments to go with the dissolution of his 23 year marriage to his wife Linda, plus a car wreck involving his son Nick that left a friend of his brain damaged. It was even mentioned by Hogan in his new book that just came out entitled “My Life Outside the Ring” that he nearly committed suicide if not for a random phone call from then co star of “American Gladiators” and daughter of Muhammad Ali, Laila Ali.

Hogan was on a rough night of Xanax and rum and had his finger on the trigger of a loaded weapon when Ali called. Hogan says that it saved his life, and Ali commented that her phone call must have been “divine intervention.”

In a week where ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips was fired and then checked into rehab after admitting an affair with a 22 year old production assistant, and when Andre Agassi admitted to using crystal meth and then lying to the tennis commission to avoid a suspension, why is the Hogan signing so earthshattering? Surely, these stories are more to write home about than a 50 plus year old wrestler getting back in the ring again isn’t it?

Well, let’s look at it from this perspective. Without Hogan, wrestling never would have gotten as mainstream as it did. Yes, you had your Savages, Ricky Steamboats, Harley Races, Larry Zbyszkos, and before that, Wahoo McDaniel, Bruno Sammartino, Ivan Koloff and others, but wrestling was mostly a regional attraction. In 1984, when Hogan defeated the Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden dead in the center of the ring to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pro wrestling found its poster boy to go global.

Hogan was the flagship for WWF and Vince McMahon throughout the rest of the 1980s and even into the early 1990s, racking up millions upon millions of dollars for the WWF enterprise. Hogan left WWF in 1993, and went on to take almost a year off before reappearing in Ted Turner’s WCW promotion. Many people think that the fallout was based on the steroid trial by the government against Vince McMahon, but Hogan had stated that he had been taking anabolic steroids since 1976 to gain mass and muscle. Hogan had a great run with WCW, both as a face, which most people knew him as with the whole Hulkamania gimmick, and then portrayed a heel to the maximum as “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan, the leader of the nWo, or New World Order.

For Hogan to even consider getting back in the ring makes one wonder as to the motivation? Surely, some of it is more than likely financially motivated. After all, he took a beating more than likely in his divorce, not to mention paying the damages from the lawsuit against Nick filed by the family of the friend following the incident. Still, one would have to think there is more to it than just that. Let’s be honest, Hogan’s been in the business for over three decades now. It’s quite possible he misses the roar and adulation of the crowd, the thousands cheering his name, the adrenaline rush from knowing that people came to see you, your name in lights, being the showcase attraction. To have that ripped away from you surely is not the easiest thing to deal with.

Hogan appeared on Larry King Live and said that he wants to test his “sea legs” during the Hulkamania tour next month down in Australia, where Ric Flair is supposed to headline the main event in several locations with him. Hogan will make his initial television appearance on TNA Impact tomorrow night, October 29th, in what is sure to be a ratings bonanza for the federation and SpikeTV. The deal for Hogan was brokered by Eric Bischoff, who was an executive with WCW, a member of the nWo, and even was a part of WWE programming for a while. Bischoff is a long time friend of Hogan, and will be joining him in TNA as well. There are even rumors circulating now that it is only a matter of time before Flair joins them, further adding high wattage, if not high age, star power, to TNA.

What does this do in the grand scheme of things? Certainly, it will turn the wrestling stage on its collective ear. There is no telling what Vince McMahon may try to do, or NEED to do for that matter, to counter such a bold move by Dixie Carter and TNA management. Right now, with the popularity of pro wrestling in a waning cycle, star power and names are what draw fans and audiences, both in the seats and to the television. With Hulk Hogan, arguably still one of, if not the, most recognizable name in the business still adding to a roster laden with names that are noticeable, this might be the biggest threat McMahon has faced since the demise of WCW.

They say that professional wrestling isn’t so much about in ring ability and big moves, as it is the ability to sell a character, and tell a story.

In these days however, it’s not so much about selling the story, as selling a look.  Charisma has gone the way of the dinosaurs, cast aside for a series of muscle bound clones that, if you put a mask on them, would be as indistinguishable from one another as hamburgers from McDonald’s.  The big names of the past, who helped turn professional wrestling from a regionalized attraction in a worldwide phenomenon, are no more a fixture in the business now than high flying maneuvers and weapon shots were back in the 1950s and 60s.

The wrestling industry lost another link to that past this week, as Captain Lou Albano, one of the most flamboyant and successful managers in the history of professional wrestling, passed away at home while under hospice care at the age of 76.

Albano started in the business back in 1953, when he defeated Bob Lazaro in a match in Montreal.  For the next 42 years, the squared circle would be his office, different venues his traveling bases so to speak.  Albano was as recognizable as the Michelin Man, Ronald McDonald, or any other national icon.  Known for his garishly loud Hawaiian shirts, the rubber bands that would be in his goatee and his cheeks like piercings, Albano was one of the first group of charismatic managers, like “Classie” Freddie Blassie and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, who could rile up a crowd as much for the company they kept as managers, as they could with what they would do to try and help their talent win matches.

Over the course of his managing career, Albano took The Russian Bear Ivan Koloff to the most prestigious title in wrestling, the WWF Heavyweight Championship belt, dethroning Bruno Sammartino in 1971.  He also led Don “The Rock” Muraco, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, and Pat Patterson to the WWF Intercontinental Championship, not to mention an astonishing fifteen different tag teams to the tag gold.

Outside the squared circle, Albano was best known for being the father in Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” video, where he’s seen lecturing Cyndi until she spins him against the wall and puts him in a hammer lock.  That appearance really sprung Albano, and brought the music and wrestling industries into play together.

“When the Captain hit the screen with the video, it gave us a whole new audience,” said “Irish” Davey O’Hannon, a professional wrestler who knew Albano since the 1970s. “When that came out, let me tell you, it just rocketed.”

Albano did some work behind the mic at the announce table, both for Rock ‘n’ Wrestling, which was thought up by Vince McMahon after the success of Albano’s appearances in Lauper’s videos, and later in the UWF, a fledgling fed run by Herb Abrams, where he had his infamous “Captain Lou is talking to you” segment.  During that, he’d talk to UWF “superstars” and I use that term loosely, because the majority of the roster were retreads and no talents.  Sure you had Paul Orndorff and Dr. Death Steve Williams, and even a young Cactus Jack, but come on…Spitball Patterson?  Wild Thing Steve Ray?  Sunny Beach?  These were top names?

I don’t know if there would be room in today’s world of professional wrestling for someone like Albano.  He was short (5’10), hefty (somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 pounds until becoming a vegetarian in the 1990s helped him drop nearly 150 pounds after a health scare.)  He wasn’t a pretty boy (the images will attest), nor was he a powerhouse in the ring, built like Hulk Hogan, or any of the top names of today.  What he was, however, was a quintessential storyteller.  Albano could sell ice to Eskimos.

When he first started managing in the WWWF, his target was longtime champ Bruno Sammartino.  He was reviled for trying every trick in the book for his henchmen to wrest the crown from the babyface Sammartino.  Koloff took it from him in Madison Square Garden in 1971, but after Sammartino regained it, Albano’s group couldn’t get it back from him throughout the 70s.  Albano’s henchmen were famous for carrying the WWF through the Bob Backlund reign as champion, in a time when interest in the sport seemed to wane a bit.

Albano would be inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996, along with Pat Patterson, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, and Killer Kowalski among others.  It was Albano’s separation from Snuka in the early 1980s that pushed Snuka face and arguably was the springboard to the most successful years of his career in WWF and then on into the AWA.  By that token, Albano was the driving force behind making household names in the business.

In this day and age when managers have almost disappeared from the landscape in lieu of “valets” and eye candy instead of actual managers that added panache and excitement to a match, either by distracting the ref, pulling the ropes down, sneaking a weapon in or a cheap shot, anything to add to the angle, to sell the story.  The days of epic promos, of long lasting storylines, angles and feuds, of title matches being a rare attraction, and of cards being more about matches and action then a bunch of tired rhetoric, cheap pops and overhyping of the same faces that the fans have tired have long faded into oblivion.

In recent years, connections from the past, the charismatic, colorful characters that made wrestling what it is, one by one, have faded away.  Killer Kowalski, Gorilla Monsoon, Curt Hennig, Bruiser Brody, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Wahoo McDaniel, Big John Studd, and Andre the Giant, among others, all have passed on too soon.  Even the flamboyant Jesse “The Body” Ventura has mellowed, to the point he won governor of Minnesota, shaved his head and called himself “The Mind” for a period of time.  He’s not as outspoken as he once was, and his work with Monsoon at the broadcast table was legendary.

We wish Albano’s wife, children and family our condolences during this time of sadness and grief.  A great man, a terrific manager and a class act, Captain Lou Albano, gone at age 76.  Wrestling fans everywhere should wear a rubber band somewhere as a reminder of what Albano did for and meant to, the industry he loved.

Who would have thought that Rush Limbaugh would be such a polarizing force in the NFL, that even talk that he was interested in buying the St. Louis Rams, a team floundering in disarray and drowning in discontent, would string up such a hornet’s nest of activity to try and prevent him from getting membership in the exclusive club known as ownership?  After all, even Jennifer Lopez is a minority owner of the Dolphins now, and what does she know about football?

At least Limbaugh is well versed, and was considered on a few occasions for a job on ABC’s Monday Night Football and was on ESPN’s Sunday Night Football before getting removed after his comment about Donovan McNabb in 2003 which was:

“I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.”

It would have been better than Dennis Miller’s long winded, obscure diatribes about something completely unrelated to football, which bored me to tears as a hardcore fan, and would have made the casual one try to rupture their own eardrums by stabbing a pencil through it.  Just a couple examples of the fountain of wisdom that Miller was which drove fans nuts:

“Warner had more hands in his face than an OB-GYN delivering Vishnu’s triplets!”

“That field goal attempt was so far to the left it nearly decapitated Lyndon LaRouche.”

“I haven’t seen anyone rely on the ground game this much since the battle of Verdun.”

Then of course, there was this offensive gem:

“The Cowboys’ defense has more holes in it than Ronny Milsapp and Jose Feliciano after a game of lawn darts.”

Mercifully, he was let go, but Limbaugh never made it to the booth again, instead continuing with his conservative radio work that has always had him at odds with the political left.  It was announced last week that Limbaugh and St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts were putting together a proposal to potentially buy the Rams from Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez, the children of deceased former owner Georgia Frontiere.  The other 40 percent is owned by Stan Kroenke, who owns the Denver Nuggets of the NBA and the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL.  Kroenke was in the national spotlight back in May when he refused to honor a prior commitment to the WWE for Monday Night Raw while the Denver Nuggets were in the Western Conference playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers.  That led to a public spat with WWE owner Vince McMahon, and for McMahon, any publicity is good publicity.

However, already Limbaugh has become a target for controversy in just the preliminary stages of looking to buy the team.  Colts owner Jim Irsay, who is still reviled in Baltimore for packing the team up and leaving for Indianapolis like thieves in the night in the 1980s, has made it clear that Limbaugh would not get his vote should his bid be the one that is accepted by Rosenbloom and Rodriguez.  When asked, Irsay made the following statement:

“I, myself, couldn’t even consider voting for him,” Irsay said at an owners meeting. “When there are comments that have been made that are inappropriate, incendiary and insensitive … our words do damage, and it’s something that we don’t need.”

Roger Goodell also spoke out to put distance between the NFL and Limbaugh’s comments, saying that they were “polarizing comments that we don’t think reflect accurately on the NFL or our players.”

Couple that with the fact that the head of the NFLPA, DeMaurice Smith, has already stepped up and made it clear to his contingent that they should speak up about Limbaugh’s interest in buying the team.  So far, at least seven NFL players have stated that they wouldn’t play for Limbaugh should he take over the franchise.  It will be interesting to see how many others step up and echo the same sentiments, and if they would actually STICK to those beliefs if push came to shove, or if they’d pipe down, play and cash their checks.  I suspect it would be the latter rather than the former, because, let’s face it, no pro athlete wants to forfeit truckloads of cash.

However, the hits for Limbaugh don’t stop coming from within the NFL.  Two polarizing forces in their own rights, Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, have also made their disdain for Limbaugh known in the national media.  Sharpton claimed that Limbaugh was “divisive and anti-NFL” in statements before, while Jackson made overtures that Limbaugh “made his wealth appealing to the fears of whites” by insulting blacks and other minorities relentlessly.

Now, let’s look at it from a different standpoint.  The Rams are an abysmal 5-32 since the 2007 season kicked off.  They haven’t won since beating Washington and Dallas back to back last season to get to 2-4.  They’ve been obliterated in four of five games this season, losing those by at least 19 points, and were shut out twice.  The only competitive game they had, they lost 9-7 to the anemic Redskins offense.  They’re being outscored by 22.4 points a game.  If that number were to hold over an entire season, they would be outscored by an astounding 358 points.  Sunday will be 364 days since the Rams last tasted victory.

Now, having Jackson and Sharpton call out Limbaugh as being a fulcrum of divisive comments and racism is like the Cleveland Browns telling the Detroit Lions they suck.  It’s two sides of the same coin.  Whenever something like this comes up, you can almost bet on Sharpton and Jackson being mouthpieces for the cause.  We saw it with Don Imus after his comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, and we’ll see it time and time again.

There supposedly are six groups that submitted initial proposals to the league about interest in buying the team, including a group of two featuring prominent black businessmen.  Yet, all we’ve heard is a collective throwing of Limbaugh under the bus and the wheels thumping over his hopes and dreams of owning an NFL franchise and keeping them in St. Louis.  Is he controversial?  Certainly.  Is he opinionated?  Who isn’t?  Should previous statements be held against him because people don’t like what he had to say?  Not from where I’m standing.

Here’s hoping that the NFL gives Limbaugh a fair shake and doesn’t toss him aside like yesterday’s news just because the court of popular opinion doesn’t agree with him.  After all, there isn’t one person who is casting criticism that hasn’t been under fire for one reason or another at some point in their existence.  Cut Limbaugh some slack and give him a chance to atone for what was said years ago.

What do you get when you combine the excitement of professional football with a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show? Why, the Lingerie Football League of course. Now, I may have overemphasized the “professional” and “football” part of that statement, but there is plenty of eye candy out there to pique the interest of both the hardcore male enthusiast and your usual strip club crowd alike.

Now, sure, there have been a plethora of leagues to try and make an impact, but most of them were extremely fleeting, and had little corporate interest. The only one that really lasted was the old AFL, which eventually merged with the NFL in 1970.

There have been plenty of failed experiments though. The USFL, with Donald Trump for example, lasted three seasons, and tried filing an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL, and while the court did find in their favor, it was for a whole dollar, automatically tripled to three bucks under antitrust legislation. Needless to say, they folded up shop quick.

However, I digress. We’re talking about scantily clad babes playing football! How can you get something more American than that? Quite simply, you can’t. Football plus sex appeal is a winner…or is it? Certainly guys like half naked women, but do they want to see them butcher football, when they can easily watch talented pros in the NFL and ogle the cheerleaders as they dance on the sidelines?

Well, that’s what the founders of the league are banking on. For the uneducated, the Lingerie Football League plays on a field with similar dimensions to the now seemingly dead Arena Football League: 50 yards in length, 30 in width, and eight yard deep end zones. It’s seven on seven action, and each team carries 14 active and 6 inactive players on their roster.

There is no kicking in the LFL, no extra points or field goals. Instead, when a team scores a touchdown they have the option of trying to convert from the 2 yard line for one point, or from the five for two points. There are two fifteen minute halves, as opposed to four quarters like most football fans are used to, and should a game go to overtime, sudden death is eight minutes.

The LFL consists of ten teams, spaced around the country. They are as follows: the Miami Caliente, the Tampa Breeze, Chicago Bliss, New York Majesty and Philadelphia Passion make up one conference, while the Denver Dream, Dallas Desire, Seattle Mist, San Diego Seduction and the Los Angeles Temptation make up the other.

Now, here’s the kicker: while the regular season began September 4th and runs through January 29th of 2010, each team plays just FOUR games. That’s right, five months to play four games, two at home and two on the road. There is one game a week out of the ten clubs. Not much to get excited about when you only see your home team twice a season in person now is there?

For example, take last Friday’s game between the Seattle Mist and the Denver Dream. Seattle won by a score of 28-19 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, with game time temperatures in the low 30s, with a wind chill of 12, and snow flurries. While some things were shriveling in the frigid Rocky Mountain air, you can bet that there were plenty of things hard enough to cut glass on the field.

Under the scheduling system however, the Mist won’t play again until a trip to play the Los Angeles Temptation on November 28th, while the Dream don’t play their fourth and final game until January 8th, 2010 against the San Diego Seduction. Perhaps the nearly three month break will prove beneficial to the Dream, who are 0-3 and most likely on the outside looking in for the playoffs.

One thing is for certain, the LFL has got the slick marketing campaign down. Beautiful women, their firm, toned, curvaceous bodies oiled up, banging and slamming into each other, while talking trash. It’s like wrestling, only with actual impact. They seem to be relying on male fans to buy in, and buy in heavily, as to purchase single games to watch online will set you back 7.95, or the season package of all 20 games would have been $125 should you have gone that route.

Will the LFL survive? At this point it’s too early to tell. The Lingerie Bowl always had great success during halftime of the Super Bowl, but that was a major reason why. It was halftime of the Super Bowl. Most of the time a lousy act that no one wants to see is slotted, and let’s face it, you can’t say it enough times: guys like seeing half naked women.

Will that lust and desire for beauty equal ratings for the LFL and potential success? Or will it lead to a swift, crashing demise that will make other potential people looking to reinvent the wheel reconsider their plans for another decade or longer? One thing you can’t argue with is the old adage nothing ventured, nothing gained. By taking a chance, the LFL is making a bold statement. Hopefully, for them and the women that put themselves out there, it pans out.