THE RAYS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES

You got to hand it to the Tampa Bay Rays for not completely choking and letting the series against the Red Sox slip through their fingers. The Rays were the better team all season and beat the Red Sox best pitcher in Jon Lester twice with great performances from ALCS MVP Matt Garza. I thought the Red Sox were going to win this series after coming back from a 7-0 deficit in game 5 to extend it and then winning game 6 in St. Petersburg kind of gave me that whole "destiny" bull shit feeling. But you have to love this Rays team. Their payroll is below 50 million and they have a bunch of kids who are playing their hearts out and for the first time this season are learning how to win at the major league level. If anything it gives this Orioles fan hope going into next season. If the fucking Rays can make the World Series then why not the O's?

I will have my World Series preview and prediction up tomorrow. I totally whiffed on my league championship predictions going 0-2 but I'm still up 4-2 overall this postseason. Both the Phillies and the Rays are playing great fundamental baseball right now so it will be difficult to pick a winner but right now I am leaning towards the Rays. I am an American League guy after all.

UPSET PICK OF THE WEEK

I'm taking Missouri over Texas in Austin. I think Chase Daniel outperforms Colt McCoy and Mizzou picks up their biggest win in the history of their program. The spread is -6.5 as we speak in favor of Texas so go ahead and bet your remaining beer and pizza money on Mizzou and thank me later. I'm going with the Mizzou Brew.

Prediction: Missouri 42 Texas 38

JAY CUTLER NOT A FAN OF PHILIP RIVERS

God I love this kind of shit. Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers are both young QB's on division rivals that obviously don't get along with one another and I love to see the animosity Cutler has for Rivers. The NFL has become too much buddy-buddy shit from opposing players doing prayers together to going out to dinner with each other's families after the game is over and stroking each other's cocks, er I mean egos. I like to see two guys who genuinely hate each other let it be known. It will make the games more interesting and competitive in my opinion. Soon the nation will be split on whether you are a Rivers guy or a Cutler guy. I think I'm a Cutler guy. Rivers seems like a mama's boy punk who talks shit and forces trades behind close doors. Oh wait, that was Elway and Eli Manning. Never mind.

Video HT: BroncoTalk

JAKE PEAVY A BRAVE? CAN WE DRINK TO IT?

As you have probably heard the San Diego Padres are actively shopping ace Jake Peavy to a number of National League teams. Peavy, an Alabama native, appears to favor a deal to the Atlanta Braves who were his favorite childhood team. But the question remains what would it take to land Peavy, a former Cy Young winner and a top 5 pitcher in the game, and would it be conducive to what the Braves as an organization are trying to accomplish?

The Padres and Braves were both horrible teams last year heading in similar paths in my opinion. They are not getting any better and the only way they will get better is if they load up on some young talent. The Braves have some young talent in the minors that are within a couple of years of making some impact. I'm talking about guys like Jason Heyward(future corner outfielder), Jordan Schafer(future CF), Gorkys Hernandez(CFer acquired in the Renteria trade), pitchers Tommy Hanson and Julio Teheran. The Braves would have to trade at least 2 of those guys along with a current MLB player like Yunel Escobar, Kelly Johnson, or Jair Jurrjens in order to wet Padres GM Kevin Tower's palate to even consider trading the young Peavy who is locked up for 4 more years at below market value.

So would it be worth the risk for the Braves to give up all that young talent to secure an ace?

No. The Braves need pitching in the worse way. Tim Hudson, John Smoltz, Tommy Traitor, and Mike Hampton are all either gone next season or can't pitch due to injuries. Adding one guy in Peavy and subtracting a pitcher like Jurrjens doesn't make you any better it just makes you the Padres. Personally I would love to see Peavy in a Braves uniform but I don't think he will make the Braves a contender in the NL East. The Phillies and the Mets will be as good if not better next season when they add some free agents this offseason and the Marlins have a better nucleus of young talent ready to make some noise much like the Tampa Bay Rays are doing this year. The Braves have a shitload of holes already including starting pitching, corner infielders(Chipper isn't getting any healthier or younger), and outfielders and when you factor in trading your future away for one player it just doesn't make much sense. Now if the Braves want to open up their checkbook and start signing some significant free agents along with trading for Peavy then I can understand it but it seems like the Braves have no set direction ever since Frank Wren took over as GM.

I'm wondering what the other Sportscrack heads out there think it would take to land Peavy and would it be worth the risk? I know we have Cardinals and Dodgers fans on here among many other teams and want to hear what kind of players you think you would have to give up in order to land a Peavy. This isn't just a rumor of Peavy possibly getting traded it pretty much is in the works as we speak and a deal could be done within the next few days so I want to hear some opinions out there. If you are a Cards fan do you think trading Rasmus and some other pieces is worth it? Should the Dodgers trade Kemp and Kershaw for Peavy?

Post your comments below and let's talk about it.

MARK WAHLBERG AND HIS FUNKY BUNCH CAN'T TAKE A JOKE

At first I thought Markie Mark was kidding around and merely acting like he wanted to kick Andy Samberg's ass(or his big nose) for publicity but then I realized...Wahlberg can't act. Plus when ever a guy gets real personal like Wahlberg does about Samberg's big Schnauzer you realize that there is some real deep down hatred for the guy. Look Markie Mark, you need to loosen up the Calvin Klein's and get off the whole acting like you're a tough guy because you are not. Your fucking shorter than I am Keebler so go make me some fucking cookies tough guy. C'mon C'mon, cook it, cook it, cook the soft batch! Now I realize that the little pain in the ass character named E on Entourage is based on the former Funky Bunch member.

Great impersonation by Samberg by the way. If you close your eyes and just listen to him it sounds just like Wahlberg.

Video HT: WWTDD

UPDATE: Apparently Wahlberg is a great actor and he can take a joke. Here is a SNL skit from this weekend where he makes a cameo that Cheesewhistle commented on...

GOOD SPORTS VIEWING TONIGHT

It's not too often we get a jam packed Thursday night full of sports viewing. Tonight we get it starting at 7:30 on ESPN with Florida State traveling to North Carolina State. As some of you may know I haven't been the biggest fan of Seminoles football and think they have been overrated for a while but this 2008 squad is different and has a legitimate shot at winning the ACC crown. The reason: running game. They finally have a fucking running game worth talking about averaging an impressive 231 rushing yards a game. Senior RB Antone Smith has been running for the first time in his career in Tallahassee behind a good line which actually is controlling the line of scrimmage. These Thursday night ESPN games have been full of upsets till last week when Wake Forest held on to beat Clemson and thus insured the exit of Baby Bowden. I think Papa Bowden will have FSU ready and the poon should be plentiful as both schools have attractive fan bases. The spread is -11.5 in favor of FSU and I think the Seminoles will win but I don't see them covering the spread.

At 8 PM we get two choices. We can either watch the Boston Red Sox and their huge payroll take on the Tampa Bay Rays and their minuscule payroll battle or we can watch a more entertaining College Football game on Versus. Yes, Versus has the undefeated and unproven BYU Cougars, the supposed BCS busters, traveling their Mormon asses to TCU to take on some rowdy Texans ready to prove that caffeine is okay to consume. This should be a great game and if BYU wants to prove to everybody that they deserve to be considered for a BCS game then they need to win. BYU QB Max Hall will get his chance to show off his Heisman credentials against a pretty good TCU defense. TCU is #1 in the nation in total defense allowing just over 207 total yards a game. BYU has been playing good defense too allowing only 17 points in their last 4 games combined. In what should be a low scoring game I think TCU pulls off the upset at home and thankfully we don't have to worry about BYU somehow sneaking into the BCS.

So essentially there will be 3 entertaining games of some significance going on at the same time tonight which will mean a lot of channel flipping in between the burping and boozing. The Red Sox have to win tonight and I think they will. I believe they have won 7 straight elimination games in the playoffs so I got my money on the Sox extending the series to a 6th game.

MCCAIN'S BRAIN ON THE FINAL DEBATE

I'm going to miss John McCain if he doesn't get elected. The guy is a comics dream much like George Bush. Barack Obama is just boring. What is SNL going to make fun of for the next 4 years? Bush was a gold mine with his made up words and now McCain has all these peculiarities which tend to be hilarious. I could seriously watch McCain's Brain reactions to statements all day. Hopefully this series of McCain's Brain doesn't die as fast as...well..you know.

Now get off of my lawn.

Image HT: MacGsWorld

OKAY I PICKED THE WRONG NL TEAM

My apologies to all the Sportscrack heads out there who went and threw away their tiny left overs of a 401k and a shitty mortgage on the fact that I picked the Dodgers in the World Series over the Phillies. If I knew Rafael Furcal was going to spend more time picking cliffhangers than getting on base for Man Ram to knock him in then I would have never gone with the fucking Dodgers. Congratulations go out to the Phillies who will be making their first World Series appearance since Mitch Williams made his enduring impression on Joe Carter's bat. I somehow managed to get all 4 of my division series picks right but if the Rays win 1 of the next 3 games against the rather pathetic looking Sox then I will be 0 for 2 in league series picks. But you know like any true degenerate we are not going to let that Nancy Kerrigan us and question why things happen. Nope, we are going to ride this dwindling gravy train and put everything on the American League in the World Series. They are the better league right?

Image HT: Blogging via Typewriter

ANOTHER HOCKEY FIGHT

If the NHL wants to get higher ratings and more interest from non-mullet heads maybe they need to stage one of these every night. Similar to what ESPN and NASCAR does with their non-athletes and tells you about these so called "behind the doors" fights that take place between two rednecks and a car to drum up ratings at least the NHL has the balls to put it right in front of your face. There is a teabag reference in there some where, I will let you make it. I'm not exactly sure who the clear winner of the fight was between the Canadiens' George Laraque and the Bruins' Shawn Thornton but it is always fun to see two big guys go at it with so much force and bravado that it almost pushes them off the ice and onto the benches.

Last week I attended the season opener for the Atlanta Thrashers and got to see the good guys beat the Caps 7-4. All of the goal scoring was exciting of course but Philips Arena gets so much more energy when two competitors decide to drop the gloves and exchange haymakers. The NHL needs to embrace the fighting part of the game and market it because people like you and me love to watch it. I kind of miss the days when NHL Tonight was on ESPN2 and you could see the latest Tony Twist fight and/or Bob Probert mauling some rookie's face.

Video HT: FanIQ

MIDSEASON ALL-AMERICAN TEAM

We have reached the midpoint of the 2008 College Football season and I figured why not take a look at some of the best players to perform on a campus near you. Here are my picks for the Sportscrack Midseason All-American College Football Team.

QUARTERBACK
Colt McCoy, Texas-For all intended purposes I had Chase Daniel as my top QB in the nation till last Saturday. McCoy passed him temporarily with a brilliant performance in the Red River Shootout to beat Oklahoma and claim the new #1 spot with Daniel struggling with those 3 huge picks in a loss to Oklahoma State. McCoy has been on top of his game all season and his numbers in both passing and rushing rank him among the best. This week's game in Austin will be a good barometer to see who might be the clear cut best QB in the nation.

RUNNINGBACKS
Javon Ringer, Michigan State-Okay, yes, I know, I can already hear some people complaining about this pick. Look, Ringer's average yards per carry isn't the best in the nation at below 5 but the guy has personally carried Sparty all season. In fact I think without Ringer the Spartans would be lucky to have 3 wins right now. Defenses are loading up in the box and yet he still leads the nation with 14 rushing TDs.

Knowshon Moreno, Georgia-He is averaging slightly more yards per carry over last season and is on pace for 20 plus total TDs while playing in the toughest conference with the toughest defenses. Special K has not disappointed one bit this season despite playing behind an offensive line that has had several key blockers go down with injuries.

WIDE RECEIVERS
Percy Harvin, Florida-Harvin's nickname should be Techmo Bowl. An amazing athlete, Harvin makes your jaw drop everytime he touches the ball. He simply glides past defenders which is no easy feat playing in the SEC.

Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech-I haven't seen much of Crabtree this season but his numbers look solid again. He might not reach last year's ridiculous numbers but he is still on pace to catch over 20 TDs.

Jeremy Maclin, Missouri-Maclin has been incredible for the Tigers whether catching, running, or returning kicks this season. He is on pace to put up better numbers receiving this season and is becoming one of the best WRs in the game.

TIGHT END
Chase Coffman, Missouri-Big Chase already has 3 games over a 100 yards receiving and 2 games in which he has double digit catches. Honestly nobody is really close to him right now in terms of TE production and he is the heavy favorite for the Mackey Award.

OFFENSIVE TACKLES
Andre Smith, Alabama-Protects Wilson's blind side and completely devours defensive linemen and linebackers while controlling the line of scrimmage for Bama.

Michael Oher, Ole Miss-Another great SEC left tackle who helped lead the Rebels to an improbable win against Florida at the Swamp.

OFFENSIVE GUARDS
Duke Robinson, Oklahoma-Consistently dominates the line of scrimmage for one of the highest scoring offenses in the nation.

Rodney Hudson, Florida State-Hudson has come out of nowhere to dominate this year for the Seminoles. Literally a big reason why FSU has a legitimate shot of winning the ACC.

CENTER
Jonathan Luigs, Arkansas-Opens up holes for the Razorbacks and has been the #1 center in the college game 3 years now.

DEFENSIVE ENDS
Brian Orakpo, Texas-The incredibly agile Houston native had a couple of sacks against Oklahoma to give him 7.5 at midseason.

Aaron Maybin, Penn State-Has 9 sacks already and is a big reason why Penn State is the favorite now to win the Big Ten conference.

DEFENSIVE TACKLES
Terrence Cody, Alabama-The guy is a tank and literally needs 2-3 blockers because of his size.

Gerald McCoy, Oklahoma-Had 2 sacks against Texas and requires multiple blockers.

LINEBACKERS
Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri-A tackling machine with 65 total tackles with 7 for loss.

Brandon Spikes, Florida-He looks like the Predator and is known to kill Tigers with 2 interceptions on Saturday.

Scott McKillop, Pittsburgh-One of the more underrated players in the nation who is having a great season with 8 tackles for loss already.

CORNERBACKS
Alphonso Smith, Wake Forest-He knows how to talk the talk and walk the walk with 7 passes broken up and 3 INTs.

Malcolm Jenkins, Ohio State-Not sure how I forgot this guy in the first place, Jenkins is playing great and already has 3 INTs.

STRONG SAFETY
Eric Berry, Tennessee-Only a sophomore, Berry leads the nation with 4 picks and has future NFL star written all over him.

FREE SAFETY
William Moore, Missouri-Has been a steady force along with Weatherspoon on the Mizzou defense.

KICKER
Matt Harmon, Navy-Got to give the Midshipmen some love. He has converted 14 of 15 field goal attempts.

PUNTER
Justin Brantly, Texas A&M-So far Brantly has been the best player on the Aggies team. He can boot the ball.

KICK RETURNER
Derrick Williams, Penn State-I dogged this kid before the season started for not living up to expectations but he has been magnificent for the JoePa's and has a great chance of earning All-American honors in his senior season.

PUNT RETURNER
Brandon James, Florida-This "little fucker" as I call him is the closest thing to Devin Hester in the college game. I would never kick it to him if given the choice.

MIDSEASON HEISMAN: Colt McCoy, Texas

MIDSEASON FRESHMEN OF THE YEAR: Michael Floyd, Notre Dame

MIDSEASON COACH OF THE YEAR: Nick Saban, Alabama

MIDSEASON GAME OF THE YEAR: USC at Oregon State

MIDSEASON SURPRISE TEAM OF THE YEAR: Penn State and Alabama

MIDSEASON DISAPPOINTING TEAM OF THE YEAR: Ohio State

Feel free to add any comments or possible omissions I might have left off this list.

HEAVYWEIGHT NHL FIGHT

Riley Cote of the Philadelphia Flyers and Eric Godard of the Pittsburgh Penguins decided to throw haymakers last night on Versus thus meaning about 124 people not in the great state of Pennsylvania saw it live. Now this is a great fight worth watching. Friends keep telling me how great MMA fighting is and every time I watch it I feel like I am watching the opening credits of gay porn. MMA just makes me feel uncomfortable. NHL fights are quite the opposite. They actually punch the shit out of each other while trying to stay balanced on a thin piece of fucking ice. Now that is a man's sport. MMA is for pussies. Now excuse me while I go get my physical therapy for this nasty back spasm caused by my erratic golf swing.

DAILY LINK DUMP

-Alcohol can apparently shrink your brain capacity. Gives me something to drink to tonight other than Oktoberfest(pictured above) CNN

-The Cowboys have been slowly eroding from the NFL map this past week by losing not only to Arizona but losing Tony Romo, PacMan Jones(make it rain), their punter, and Felix Jones to either injuries or suspensions. Today they made a big trade to appease Terrell Owens and picked up Roy Williams from the Lions for a 3 draft picks next year including their 1st. NFL

-A time has been set for the annual World's Largest Cocktail Party or as I would like to call it the World's Largest Jorts and Floppy Hair Party. AJC

-Boomer Esiason calls out Troy Aikman for sucking off his former team in the booth. See, he is actually proud to call himself a Cowboy unlike Boomer the former Bungal. AwfulAnnouncing

-Get to see the wonderful "ass"ets of track star Alenka Bikar in super slow motion. And by star I mean her wonderful rump. TheBigLead

-One of the Desperate Housewives is still flashing the skin at the beach. Good for her. WWTDD

HAYDEN PANETTIERE LOVES HER JOHN MCCAIN

This is more than likely not safe for work with the naughty language but you shouldn't be on this site anyways if you are behind a desk counting down the minutes to 5 pm...

It's always good to see old man river McCain getting the Hollywood vote of approval. Conservatives always complain about how liberal Hollywood is but I just don't see it. Now excuse me while I go plug in my Prius.

BRAYLON EDWARDS EMBARRASSED OF AFFILIATION WITH MICHIGAN

You would think the season of drops would be embarrasing enough for Pro Bowl WR Braylon Edwards but it doesn't even draw a drop in the bucket to his embarrassment of being a former Michigan football player. How else could you explain his interview last night on Monday Night Football where he was spotted wearing a Penn State shirt? I guess it is no coincidence that Braylon had his best game last night and the Cleveland Browns destroyed the defending Super Bowl Champions New York Giants 35-14. Braylon obviously wants to be identified with a winner and knows that the Penn State-Michigan game outcome this coming up Saturday was decided as soon as Michigan stole Dick Rod's heart from West Virginia last January.

Image HT: Deadspin

TOMMY BOWDEN FANS HAVING A TOUGH TIME

I guess I never realized how much love and admiration Tommy Bowden had among fans at Clemson. Yesterday I saw a picture of RB James Davis with tears coming down his face as he described Bowden as a "father to me" and
now this video of some purple and orange sandy vagina calling in to a television news station and expressing his "feelings" on live air regarding
the firing of Bowden...

Video HT: WithLeather via The Sports Point

I have a feeling these are the same people who will be crying when George Bush leaves office. I'm amazed the announcers held back the laughter. Maybe it was the muffled gun shot noise after "the whole program is in shambles(sniff, sob, sniff) I don't know what to do!"

THOUGHTS FROM THIS PAST WEEKEND

-The Red River Shootout finally lived up to it's motto on Saturday. Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy exchanged blows for four quarters and "The Real McCoy" came out on top with a performance that should keep him at the top of the Heisman talk for this week at least. It looked like Oklahoma was going to run away with the game in the first half but you have to credit the Longhorns for making some adjustments on defense and stopping Bradford and company in the second half. With the loss Oklahoma still has a chance of reaching the BCS Title game if they can win out and hope somebody knocks off Texas. Texas has a Dexter Morgan's schedule lineup ahead with Mizzou visiting this week who will be looking to take out some frustrations coming off a big loss at home. Then they get an undefeated Oklahoma State the following week and then travel to Lubbock to face a potentially undefeated Texas Tech team. If they win all those which I have serious doubts then they deserve to be the #1 rated team in the country. The Longhorns should enjoy this week at #1 in both the writer's and coaches poll and I'm sure Mack Brown has them ready for Missouri but you can't help but think that Mizzou had their letdown game last week in looking ahead to Texas while the Longhorns will have their letdown game this week in Austin after a hard fought victory in Dallas. Either way I'm looking forward to watching the Missouri-Texas game because it will be high scoring and who ever wins is the favorite to win the Big 12 in my opinion.

-Tough loss for Notre Dame in Chapel Hill. It's one of the first games since the Navy game last year that I thought Notre Dame should have won it and essentially they beat themselves. The 5 turnovers killed them especially the pick 6 Jimmy Clausen threw to start off the second half. Their offense is clicking with nearly 500 yards of total offense but you have to give North Carolina a ton of credit by forcing key turnovers. Things are bright though for Notre Dame with Clausen getting better every week and proving he is light years ahead of Brady Quinn in his development as a sophomore and playmakers like Golden Tate(should touch the ball at least 10 times a game, if not more), Michael Floyd, Armando Allen, Duval Kamara, and Kyle Rudolph all stepping up as underclassmen. If Notre Dame wants to get back to BCS football then they are going to need to ramp up their recruiting on the defensive line. Too many times this season they are undermanned and lack of talent and strength is getting exposed on the defensive line. Pat Kuntz has played his heart out and appears to have replaced Trevor Laws as the leader on the line but other than him nobody has exceeded or even met expectations. Ian Williams is a talented sophomore but he is getting pushed around and I've seen him miss a ton of tackles this season. Sophomore slump I guess you could call it or the lack of Laws to take away blockers. The Irish will need to add at least 3-5 players a year on the defensive line because half of the guys won't pan out till their junior or senior season and some just won't at all. The great programs have depth at d-line and while ND has been loading up on offense and defensive secondary in terms of talent they still have been lacking with the front 7 on defense. Losing out on guys like Gerald McCoy, Justin Trattou, and Omar Hunter has made the difference in my opinion in what could be an undefeated Irish team at this point in the season with a legitimate shot at a BCS Bowl victory. Hopefully the Irish can start landing these guys instead of losing them at the last minute.

-I was completely wrong about Florida. The Gators looked great in primetime against LSU and their offense is now clicking like I thought it would all season. How does a guy like Percy Harvin not get more talk for the Heisman? It seems like he is an automatic first down every time he touches the ball and you get a sense he will score almost every time he breaks huddle. I don't think Florida fans will ever realize how lucky they are to have Tim Tebow and Harvin much like when USC had Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. The Gators control their destiny if they win out because if they do they deserve to play for a BCS Title with only one loss in the SEC unlike USC who plays in a shitty conference and doesn't have to play a conference championship.

Image HT: EDSBS

SEE YA TOMMY BOWDEN

We all knew it was only a matter of time before Tommy Bowden was shown the door but it appears Clemson officials finally woke up and kicked his ass out. Look, Tommy Bowden for all intended purposes should have won a rather pathetic ACC crown at least once during his 12 seasons in Death Valley. But he could never even get Clemson close to winning one despite programs like Florida State and Miami struggling these past few seasons. This season their offense has looked lost despite having a senior QB, two future NFL runningbacks who are explosive, and two receivers capable of playing in the NFL also. There is no excuse to lose to Maryland at home. Listen, both of my parents went to Maryland and they would be the first to say Clemson should never lose to Maryland especially on their home field.

With his firing it opens the door on their current recruiting class which features a lot of talented football players who should waiver in their commitment to Clemson. Headlined by 5 star safety Craig Loston, 4 star safety Devonte Holloman, and 4 star defensive end Malliciah Goodman it is only a manner of seconds before coaching staffs like Texas, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, USC, LSU, and many others will now be calling in to check how committed some of these prospects are to a program with no current head coach. Personally I would love to see Notre Dame snag Devonte Holloman who was being recruited rather heavily by Corwin Brown. The Fighting Irish don't have a safety in their class currently and Holloman would be the perfect piece. Mack Brown and his coaching staff are coming off an impressive win over Oklahoma and I wouldn't be surprised if they swayed Texas native Loston into Austin to pay another visit. While it is true that Texas has two freshmen playing safety right now we all know injuries happen and Loston could be starting a year from now.

So who should Clemson look to get to replace Bowden? Dabo Swinney is the new interim head coach and it appears that Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips has encouraged all of the Clemson assistants to stay and rally around and support Swinney for the rest of the season. I'm not real familiar with the Clemson staff but as an outsider I think this is a mistake. Clemson needs to bring in somebody with head coaching experience and would benefit much more if they could bring in a big name like Bill Cowher before the season is over in my honest opinion. Clemson students, alumni, and fans deserve a proven winner and not just another assistant who is part of the problem on hand.

PISS POOR MICHIGAN

You know things have hit rock bottom when you lose at The Big House to a team by the name of Toledo. A team which came in with a 1-4 record. There is never an excuse to lose to fucking Toledo. I stated when Michigan hired DickRod as their coach that I couldn't imagine him lasting more than 3 seasons in Ann Arbor. Michigan football basically put all of it's eggs in to thinking Rodriguez could bring a spread offense into the Big Ten and it would succeed but the problem is he needs the recruits to run it and right now he doesn't have it. It will be interesting to see how much patience Wolverine fans have for Rodriguez. Remember they haven't experienced a losing season in 40 years and they ran out Lloyd Carr because he couldn't beat Jim Tressel. I can't see Rodriguez beating Tressel anytime soon especially with Terrelle Pryor(who DickRod was banking on getting when he accepted the Michigan job) being the starting QB in Columbus for the next 3-4 seasons. It's not all bad for Michigan though. They now have a song dedicated to them by Ryan Parker...

They travel to Happy Valley this weekend and follow it up with Michigan State, Purdue, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Ohio State. There is a good chance they might win just once more the rest of the season. 2-10 or a 3-9 season is hard to swallow and the whole honeymoon phase of Rodriguez could be up for an annulment before he ever gets a chance to settle in.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL VIEWING AND PREDICTIONS

NOON
Texas vs. Oklahoma(ABC)-The Red River Shootout matches two fan bases that have a genuine hate for each other. It's what college football is all about in my opinion. Both programs are in the top 5 with Oklahoma the top ranked team according to the AP and Coaches poll. The Sooners and Longhorns can score a ton of points quickly and I think with the weather being sunny and the lack of wind in Dallas that we will see a high scoring affair at the Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns have a terrible pass defense and Sam Bradford should pick them apart all day. Colt McCoy will need to have a perfect day to keep the Longhorns in this game or their defense is going to need to create some turnovers if isn't on top of his game. As much as I want to go against the norm and take the Longhorns I think the Sooners are the better team. Sooners win 42-27

3:30
Notre Dame at North Carolina(ABC)-This game has been making me nervous all week and I really don't know why. The Tarholes come in ranked 22nd and have been winning by creating turnovers. The Irish come in unranked with the same record of 4-1 and won last week thanks to a defense that created turnovers and a near perfect day passing from QB Jimmy Clausen. Talent wise the Irish are the Tarheels equal if not better but North Carolina has the home field advantage and a coach in Butch Davis who utilizes all their strengths. Notre Dame hasn't played a complete game this year and I think it will hurt them in this one. Begrudgingly I think North Carolina wins 27-21 with Notre Dame unable to convert some key red zone chances. God I hope I'm wrong.

Tennessee at Georgia(CBS)-The Volunteers are terrible right now with a QB in Jonathan Crompton who can't even take a snap from his center without fumbling it. The last time we saw the Dawgs play they got embarrased on their home field in a night game against Alabama. The Dawgs should come out foaming at the mouth. The Volunteers always give Georgia a good game but not this time. Georgia cruises 35-14.

8:00
LSU at Florida(CBS)-The Fear Les Tigers come in to the Swamp undefeated and ready to challenge for another National Title. The Gators have looked off all year for some reason. Not sure if it is over confidence or a lack of execution but to me the Gators haven't looked like a top 10 team at any one point this season. LSU has been talking trash with DL Ricky Jean-Francois leading the bayou barking. Tim Tebow won't back down and it is hard to imagine the Gators losing back-to-back home games. Well, imagine it because it will happen. LSU wins 28-21.

CHASE UTLEY PROVES ME WRONG

Is that not a sweet picture there or what? With one swing of the bat Chase Utley proved my prediction of the Dodgers taking the first 3 games of this series wrong. It goes to show you should never bet against a guy with the name of Chase or a team like the Phillies. They are Chasin the Dream and with that one beautiful swing last night on a tired Derek Lowe meat pitch it completely changed the outlook of the series. Now the Dodgers must win today to go back to LA with a chance of making the World Series.

ZEKE AND DESTROY IN THE BEND

Notre Dame picked up a huge commitment yesterday when 4 star linebacker Zeke Motta decided on the Fighting Irish despite Florida and Auburn making strong pushes to get the Florida prep product. Zeke is the 16th commitment to the current Irish class and is a punishing, future "SAM" linebacker who should thrive in Jon Tenuta's blitzing defense. Motta took his official visit last week against Stanford and came away with a great feeling of belonging among the Notre Dame community.

In fact ND fan Garrett Banghart created a "Zeke and Destroy" signed that really hit it off for Motta when he saw it. Motta came away impressed with how much the fans knew about him and how much they wanted him to be a part of Notre Dame's future.

BlueandGold.com was the first publication to break the news on Motta's commitment...
“My official visit to Notre Dame was just great. The academics are so good, the football program is great and the fan base had so much to do with my trip being so pleasurable for my Dad and me,” Motta said.

Motta will be an early enrollment in January along with defensive tackle Tyler Stockton. This should bring a little bit of satisfaction among ND fans since Urban Meyer has been known to steal ND defensive prospects the past couple of seasons. Motta doesn't plan on taking any other visits and seems 100% committed at this point.

More good news for the Irish on the defensive recruiting side broke today when it was confirmed that Hawaii product and the #1 inside linebacker in the country Manti Te'o is set to visit Notre Dame when they play Pitt on November 1st. Te'o has already visited UCLA back in September and will also visit USC and BYU. If the Irish can land Te'o it would an enormous coup for the Irish staff and be another significant step towards building a faster defense for the future. Personally I like Maryland product and 5 star linebackerJelani Jenkins better because his film to me is more impressive but I have a feeling he will end up at Penn State. Landing either one of Te'o or Jenkins at the inside linebacker spot would be the "signature" recruit for the defensive side of the ball with the offense already landing 5 star runningback Cierre Wood.

Pete Sampson of IrishIllustrated.com is also reporting that 4 star safety and Tallahassee product Jawanza Starling is interested in setting up an official visit to Notre Dame. Right now it appears the Irish are well on their way to bringing in a great defensive class but they still need to get some more d-linemen to compete for elite status when it comes to Saturdays in the Fall. One of either Chris Bonds, Davon Custis, and Gabe Ikard is absolutely necessary with the preference to bring in two of them. Ikard had a great visit but the Oklahoma product will visit Dallas this weekend for the Red River Shootout and both of those teams are very much still in it. Bonds will be a tough get since he is from South Carolina and it is always hard to pull recruits from SEC country. He is also coming off major knee surgery. Custis is from Columbus, Ohio but appears to be the best bet right now. He had an unofficial visit during the Michigan game and apparently the Irish staff made quite an impression with him and his family. He is planning on making another visit, this time official, within the next few weeks.

NLCS PREVIEW AND PREDICTION

Despite watching little baseball the past month I somehow managed to pick all 4 of the division series winners correctly. I'm not going to lie, when you are this fucking good at picking baseball games it should be noted that a baseball mind as brilliant as mine should be hired to at least be a bullpen coach or at the very least a mid level assistant GM position. Seriously, I got the time. Call me.

Now let's take a look at the National League Championship series which starts tonight between the Man Ram led Dodgers traveling to Philly to take on the Phightin Phils. The Dodgers come in red hot after sweeping the Chicago Scrubs and have the swagger and veteran leadership to make this series against the Phillies a really short one. In Game 1 we have postseason veteran and proven winner Derek Lowe going against Cole Hamels, no chump himself. The Phillies crowd will be fat, loud, and boisterous. Expect many expletives thrown at Manny even when they aren't coming from Tim McCarver's stupid mouth. As much as I like the way Hamels is pitching right now I got to take the Dodgers in Game 1. Manager Joe Torre has the team clicking and focused and a large part of that is the addition of SS Rafael Furcal to the leadoff spot. The Dodgers will take game 1 tonight and should take game 2 with Chad Billingsley out dueling Brett "Smack my bit--" Myers.

The series will then go to Hollywood with the Phillies in a deep 0-2 hole. Their hitting will start to pick up a little bit against Hiroki Kuroda but it won't be enough as the Dodgers will thrive off of Jamie Moyer's slow pitches and will take a 3-0 series lead. The Phillies, ever resilient, will come back and avoid the sweep in game 4 by unloading their bats against future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. It will be too little, too late though as the Dodgers behind some stellar starting pitching and great top of the order hitting will beat the Phillies in 5 games.

Philly fans can then redirect their anger and angst at Donovan McNabb for the next two months.

Pictures courtesy of COED Magazine

GET YOUR PICKS IN

There are only 10 games on the board for this weekend since I failed to pick the games before Sunday. One of the games is tonight's game between Wake and Clemson so be sure to get your picks in or it will pick the home team of Wake by default.

Who ever has the best week wins a free Sportscrack shirt.

Go to www.funofficepools.com to make your selections.

And to think while you worry about who is going to win this week Hugh Hefner is worried about which 19 year old twin(pictured above) he is going to bang with his old wrinkled up man member.

Oh, I'm just kidding. He will bang both.

SPORTSCRACK TOP 10 CFB POLL

1. Missouri Tigers-Mizzou is my new #1, vaulting over Alabama because I think right now they are playing better than BAMA. Chase Daniel and this offense are locked in and really can't be stopped. Similar to when the St. Louis Rams were scoring a ton of points with Kurt Warner at QB, Mizzou has a ton of weapons on offense and have yet to show they can be stopped. They face an undefeated Oklahoma State Cowboys team at home and it could present some challenges but I think the Tigers will handle them.

2. Alabama Crimson Tide-I knew they were in for a letdown game against Kentucky but I still thought they would win comfortably. They didn't. Winning by a field goal is still a win but I wonder if the Tide have hit their peak and will slowly come back down to earth. They get an off week to prepare for Ole Miss and I'm sure Nick Saban will be shouting obscenities to remind them they haven't accomplished anything yet.

3. Oklahoma Sooners-The Sooners cruised past Baylor and managed to cover the 27 point spread with a late touchdown. They get the Red River Shootout this Saturday and it could be a great game with Texas playing unreal right now. Who ever wins is in the driver's seat for the Big 12 South division.

4. LSU Tigers-The Tigers had an off week to prepare for the Gators in the Swamp. If they beat Tim Tebow and company then they have a good shot at competing for another National Title. RB Charles Scott should have a big game against a weak Florida defense and put himself into the upper echelon of Heisman candidates.

5. Texas Longhorns-Colt McCoy has this team rolling right now and this should be their best chance to beat Oklahoma since Vince Young was wearing the burnt orange. If you are a die hard college football fan you owe it to yourself to sit down and watch this game on Saturday.

6. Penn State Nittany Lions-The JoePa's face a desperate Wisconsin team in Madison on a Saturday night in what should be a battle of defenses. If Penn State wins then they are top 5. If they lose then they drop out of the top 10. I think they will win in Madison and prove they are a team worthy of putting them into the BCS Title discussion.

7. Vanderbilt Commodores-They lead the toughest division in college football in the SEC East and at 5-0 overall they have a chance to go 4-0 in conference with a win at Mississippi State. Vanderbilt has hit their peak and I wouldn't be surprised if they lost to the Bulldogs this week and next week in Athens.

8. Texas Tech Red Raiders-They won in Manhattan so I will give them some props. I'm still not convinced their defense is good enough to hang with Mizzou, Oklahoma, and Texas but they have a chance to prove me wrong as the season progresses. I wouldn't be surprised if they put up 60 this week against Nebraska. Cornhusker football is terrible right now.

9. USC Trojans-I really, really hate to put USC this high especially after losing to a team like Oregon State just two weeks ago but fuck...where else am I going to put them? QB Mark Sanchez is battling a bad knee and could miss this week's game against Arizona State but I don't think it will matter. AS-Pooh has looked like garbage all year.

10. Georgia Bulldogs-Georgia and Mark Richt need to prove themselves this week by destroying a struggling Vols squad in Athens. There are no excuses. If they think they deserve consideration as one of the top teams in the country as I think they are then they need to prove it on the field starting at 3:30 in Sanford Stadium. I have faith in Matt Stafford stepping up his game once again and proving they are legit.

NEW SHIRT: FEAR LES FOOTBALL PUTTING THE NASTY BACK IN DYNASTY

Since Les Miles has arrived in Baton Rouge he has been able to maintain the level of excellence first developed under Nick Saban. No school has more BCS National Championships than the "FEAR LES FOOTBALL" so it is only appropriate to make a shirt to honor them as they have been "PUTTING THE NASTY BACK IN DYNASTY."

ORDER HERE

MCCAIN'S BRAIN ON THE SECOND DEBATE

I can't get enough of these McCain's Brain skits. They are just too fucking funny not to post. How dare Tom Brokaw mess with McCain's doodling...


McCain has a new fan and an endorsement from Notre Dame legend Brady Quinn. It's always interesting to see an athlete display their political allegiance without being fearful of pissing off some of their fans. Of course it's hard to piss off fans when you never play in Cleveland. Maybe Romeo Crennel will wake up one of these days and actually let Brady play instead of that shitstick Derek Anderson. Sorry, shitstick is a little strong. Let's go with cumguzzler. There, I feel much better. Hope I didn't offend anybody.

EBAY SELL ON FOOTBALL HELMETS ENDING SOON

Get some of these great college football helmets for cheap by checking out our EBAY page.

Hurry because the sale ends soon for Ohio State, Auburn, Notre Dame, Georgia, and Michigan football helmets.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS

-Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin was fired today after lasting just half a season. Auburn offense is Nicole Ritchie ugly right now but I think it is still a little crazy to fire a guy only half way through a season. Auburn has been disappointing this season and I guess losing to Vandy was the last straw for Tommy Tuberville.
HT: EDSBS

-Tony Barnhart of the AJC points out that the SEC conference is better from top to bottom than the Big 12 because they play defense. I agree. Look, the Big 12 Conference is strong this year at the top but good defenses usually always beat good offenses. The SEC has way more athletes on defense who would probably play on the offensive side of the ball if they were in the Big 12. It does make for an interesting argument.

-Mark Schlabach and Bruce Feldman from ESPN.com have their bowl predictions out. Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl would be very interesting and quite an accomplishment after such a dismal 2007 season. The Dawgs in the Cotton Bowl would not be welcomed with open arms in Athens after such high expectations. It's kind of funny to see how the two program's fan bases have switched expectations. The Bowls are like politics in that they are made up of 100% bullshit.


-I was suppose to make a trip to Chapel Hill this weekend for the Notre Dame-UNC game but unfortunately those plans had to be changed due to the economic "situation" our country resides in at this moment. You know the whole country is going to hell when the economy starts to effect your tailgating experiences. Or in the case an all out canceled tailgate. I imagine the economic climate is going to have a direct correlation on the college game itself. I can only imagine how much it is hurting a school like USC when they have to cut their student-athlete's pay to 5 digits instead of the 6 they were giving to Reggie Bush for all those years.

Food for thought people, speaking of food...

Image HT: MacG

PAPELBON LOVES HIM SOME CRAIG SAGER

TNT's Craig Sager is known for his tacky wardrobe, his inability to hold his alcohol, and for running around the bases and patting Hank Aaron on the back during his 715th HR trot before getting beat down. Listen, I've met Mr. Craig Sager a couple of times and I'm not his biggest fan. The guy is a lush who doesn't know shit about sports let alone the actual ones he covers. And this is coming from a guy who is a lush. At least I know my sports even when I'm ten beers deep or in Sager's case 4 Vodka and Diet Cranberry's. So it comes with great joy to see Sager in his pumpkin suit get doused with the bubbly by ADD spokesperson and all around nutcase Jonathan Papelbon after the Red Sox eliminated the Angels yet again.

Video HT: WithLeather via Red Sox monster

HOCKEY STARTING SOON?

With both college and pro football rocking along with the MLB playoffs I haven't had much of a chance to pay attention to the start of the NHL season. Apparently it kicked off last week in Prague because the NHL would rather concentrate on the European market than the North American. They call it going global. Whatever.

My favorite team is the Atlanta Thrashers and unfortunately they are as consistent as jock itch. They have a GM in Don Waddell who sits when he pees. They have a superstar in Ilya Kovalchuk who is a top 5 offensive player in the league yet they still can't find him a suitable point man. Kovy will be gone within two seasons because he deserves better in my opinion. The guy gives it his all and yet management can't surround him with decent pieces. They had the third worst record in the NHL last year after a season in which they won their division and made their first franchise playoff appearance only to get crushed by the New York Rangers in a sweep. I got to view it personally while spending a ton of hard earned money on shitty Molson beer when I could have watched it at home while drinking shitty Bud Light.

The games are still not in HD locally so yeah, a lot to look forward to this season. At least we picked up an aging defenseman in Mathieu Schneider who is at least 3 seasons past his prime. Things are looking up I tell ya.

In the looking good department at least they managed to put together a new "Blue Crew" team of ladies in tights skating around on a thin piece of ice while picking up hats after Kovy scores a hat trick...



At least tickets will be cheap and easily accessible again.

"KIDS IN THE HALL" HAVE THEIR OWN OPENING ACT

As some of you may know I am a huge "Kids in the Hall" fan. I use to watch their shows all the time on Comedy Central before the network decided the phrase "Git R Done" was just too hilarious for simple minded rednecks. If you have never seen the movie "Brain Candy" you should stop everything right now. I'm serious. Get your finger out of your nose and stop thinking about ways to kill your boss without it ever being tied back to you. "Brain Candy" is the greatest piece of Canadian work brought to the States since Celine Dion tore it up at Caesars and/or Bryan Adams singing that catchy Robin Hood song. All sarcasm aside it's good to see the original five members of "Kids in the Hall" back together and on tour in order to make people like you and me laugh while we slowly die as our country implodes...

Yeah, rape Kevin sounds a lot funnier than rape Bruce. Eventually the Kids are going to do another movie together called Death Comes To Town which is due for Canadian release in 2010 which means it will be released in the US next week. Those Canadians are always at least a year behind us when it comes to pop culture. If you are asking yourself "What does this have to do with sports?" well then pretend the raping of Kevin is being performed by the Duke Lacrosse team.

$10 T-SHIRT DEAL FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS

For those of you who may be interested in the Tarholes, FUSC, and Crank Me Up! shirts I have a good deal going for those t-shirts till Wednesday at midnight. They are now on sale for only $10 so feel free to load up on the shirts before the sale ends.

Here are the links for the sale items:
TARHOLES SHIRT FOR $10

FUSC SHIRT FOR $10

CRANK ME UP! SHIRT FOR $10

SALMA HAYEK WISHES US A HAPPY OKTOBERFEST

Salma Hayek was on German television this week promoting her affinity for the German holiday of Oktoberfest by showing off the puppies. God blessed her in so many ways...



Picture HT: Huffington Post

If seeing Salma in a low cut traditional dirndl doesn't make you thirsty then you should just go ahead and cut your losses and exit this world. God would want you too.

PEYTON MANNING THINKS THE WORLD OF JONATHAN CROMPTON

Picture HT: Brian

By the way I am still looking for tickets to the UGA-Tennessee game so if anybody has any extras they need to get rid of please email me. I will give you free publicity on the blog if you have a company or work for a company needing some promotion. In fact, I will give you a banner ad on the right toolbar for a month for 4 tickets. Right now I would even settle for tickets to the Vandy game in Athens. Just putting it out there.

MY HEISMAN TROPHY TOP 5

We are almost to the midpoint of the regular season in college football so I figured why not take a look at the top players in the nation. Before the season started the front runners, in other words the guys getting the most publicity, were Beanie Wells, Knowshon Moreno, Tim Tebow, and Chase Daniel. The first three guys have apparently fallen back in the discussion because their teams have a bad loss or injuries played a part. This is a shame because I still think Wells is the best running back in the nation with Moreno being a close second. Tebow is just getting hit way too many times this season and it is eventually going to catch up with him if it hasn't already. In fact the guy will be damaged goods by the time Urban Meyer is done with him and enters the NFL Draft.

1. Chase Daniel, Missouri-Chase has been near flawless all season while leading the Tigers to a chance for not only a Big 12 Title but a BCS Title. He is on pace for a 36 TD-to-2 INT season while completing over 75% of his passes. His pinpoint accuracy shredded apart Nebraska on Saturday night and should get plenty of voters to notice.

2. Colt McCoy, Texas-The Real McCoy has rebounded nicely from a dismal 2007 sophomore season. He is on pace for over 40 TD's combined throwing and running and has Texas back in the National Championship talk. If he has a big game against Oklahoma this week he could be the new front runner.

3. Beanie Wells, Ohio State-He has missed half of the season because of a toe injury but in the 3 games he played he has been dynamic and unstoppable. The Buckeyes are garbage without him but with him they are a top 15 team. He is a force to be reckoned with and I have the feeling if he can stay healthy he can't get back into the Heisman discussion real quickly. He is that good.

4. Javon Ringer, Michigan State-He has carried the Spartans all season and while I know his YPC is not that impressive it is hard to argue with a QB as bad as Hoyer that defenses are overly stacking guys in the box trying to stop Ringer. He is on pace for 450 carries this season which equates to about two seasons of solid running. This will kill his NFL stock but the kid is a flat out player who deserves to be mentioned as a Heisman contender.

5. Charles Scott, LSU-Scott has emerged as a top flight RB this season and has eclipsed the 100 yard rushing mark in every game for the Tigers. If he has a big game this week against Florida, say 140 plus yards and a couple of TDs, then his name will start getting a lot more pub. You have to remember SEC defenses are lot harder to go against than say Big 12 defenses so that is why I pick a guy like Scott over say a Sam Bradford or Graham Harrell at this point.

Just missed the cut: Knowshon Moreno(Georgia), Tim Tebow(Florida), Sam Bradford(Oklahoma), Graham Harrell(Texas Tech), Glen Coffee (Alabama)

OLYMPIAN LERYN FRANCO WELCOMES A NEW WEEK

Paraguay's Leryn Franco captured the hearts of millions of males this summer when she competed in the javelin throw in Beijing. Her looks and not her actual skill made her an overnight internet sensation and now On205th has the NSFW pictures of Franco on the catwalk.

It's now only a matter of time before Franco is in Playboy. Then after that she will make some boring cameos on soap operas. Then soft porn. Then hard core porn. It's the circle of life.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL VIEWING AND PREDICTIONS

NOON
Penn State at Purdue(ESPN)-The Boilermakers have one of the worst defenses in the country and the Nittany Lions have one of the best offenses. I think Penn State will be top 5 after this week with a convincing win over Turdue and Wilford Brimley.

Duke at Georgia Tech(ESPNU)-Paul Johnson has done a masterful job so far at Tech and I expect him to have the Yellow Jackets ready to pound the ball down the Dukies throats all game.

12:30
Florida at Arkansas(Raycom)-The Gators were shocked last week at home against Ole Miss and will take their frustrations out on a horrible Arkansas team in Fayetteville. Tebow will have a Heisman-worthy game.

2:30
Stanford at Notre Dame(NBC)-Stanford brings in a solid run game but they face a Notre Dame defense which has improved from last year. The Irish will pull away in the second half as their offense has too much firepower for the Stanford D.

3:30
Kentucky at Alabama-A battle of undefeated SEC Teams, this could be a serious letdown game for Bama after the lopsided victory over the Dawgs last week. We all know Kentucky has some serious poon talent (picture above courtesy of HotSECPoon)but the football talent is still second rate to what Bama has. I think Bama wins but it will be closer than a lot of people think.

8:00
Ohio State at Wisconsin-The Badgers blew a 19-0 lead against Michigan last week and lost. These Buckeyes are a lot stronger than those Wolverines. Beanie Wells breaks out and the Buckeyes cruise in Madison.

STANFORD FOOTBALL PLAYER PUTS FOOT IN MOUTH

Stanford Cardinal offensive lineman Chris Marinelli (pictured right) was asked what he thought of Notre Dame and their defensive schemes going into Saturday. Apparently he doesn't think too highly of their defense or anything or anybody for that matter who even associates with Notre Dame according to the Rock Report....

"They are going to bring a great deal of blitzes – on first down, second down, third down, every down. All kinds of guys and they bring it a bunch of different wayy... but on the same token it's going to go bad for them at one point and we are going to gash the (expletive) out of them, I promise you that. So keep bringing it, keep bringing it. They have one sack all year on 200 blitzes."

"They can keep bringing all the stuff they want", Marinelli added. "We can pick up blitzes. Our defense, blitzes more than anyone in the country, too. So we are ready for that. That's no big deal.

"We've seen everything they've shown on tape. We've seen it before, it's nothing new. They are very disciplined with what they do, which kinda makes it nice. Sometimes when they screw up, it works out better for the defense. We aren't too worried about, we are a uniform group and we'll slide right in there."

"I hate it, playing up there," Marinelli said. "The field, excuse my language, the field sucks. The stadium sucks. I think the area sucks."

"I grew up with a bunch of Irish and Italian Catholic people back home. And all the Irish Catholic people, all they talk about is Notre Dame this, Notre Dame that. And they've never even been there, ya know. So I hate those guys, I hate that school.

"We are going out there to mash them up and that's all there is to it."

If Notre Dame ever needed motivation or bulletin board material going into a home game against the Stanford Trees then Marinelli more than provided it. Usually I don't get too upset with player comments to the media because sometimes they can be taken out of context or misconstrued. This is certainly not the case.

"FUCK MARINELLI!" is what I'm thinking right now. It's more than obvious the kid has no respect for Notre Dame so it's now up to guys like Mo Crum, Brian Smith, and David Bruton to shut his mouth and destroy Stanford in front of a national audience. Notre Dame football needs to make a statement in which they will not take any shit talking especially from some kid who plays for fucking Stanford.

Put Marinelli in his place tomorrow Fighting Irish. I look forward to seeing the Irish celebrate a victory in grand style tomorrow while also shutting up Marinelli and Stanford thus earning back some respect by blowing them out as soon as they come out of the tunnel.

CRANK ME UP! WHAT?

SPORTSCRACK TOP 10 CFB POLL

Bama Boobs courtesy of Poon of the SEC

1. Alabama Crimson Tide-Bama is the new #1 after completely destroying Georgia in Athens. In every game they have dominated including two wins against top 10 opponents. As much as I hate Nick Saban you have to respect him because the guy knows how to develop a tough, hard nosed team that can win games. They have Kentucky this week at home and should handle them despite it being a letdown game.

2. Missouri Tigers-Chase Daniel and Co. were off last week but face a tough road test at Nebraska. Mizzou last won in Lincoln 30 years ago and despite some early struggles on defense I think they can handle the Huskers.

3. Oklahoma Sooners-The Sooners were very impressive in a dominating win over TCU at home. Sam Bradford has the Sooners offense rolling and the defense finally looks like it can stop people. They get a tuneup this week against Baylor before their annual gut check game at the Red River Shootout.

4. LSU Tigers-Les Miles has a dynasty at his hands if he can regroup his team this off week and get ready for a battle in the Swamp next Saturday.

5. Texas Longhorns-The Longhorns will get their first real test of the season with a road game at Boulder this Saturday. So far they have been killing everybody behind a near flawless season performance from QB Colt McCoy but playing against the Buffs will be a lot more difficult especially with Oklahoma looming next weekend in Dallas.

6. Penn State Nittany Lions-They are now in the driver's seat to win the Big Ten conference as they have steamrolled over opponents in the first 5 weeks. They travel to Purdue this week and will need to prove how good they are on the road as they are only 9-16 since the 2003 season. Purdue can't play defense so expect a high scoring affair with Nittany Lions putting up at least 40.

7. Auburn Tigers-This is probably the ugliest top 10 team in the nation as they have struggled to victories over Miss. State and Tennessee and lost to LSU in the last minute. Tuberville's team usually have a knack for winning ugly games and with their defense they should be able to compete in every game. I think it's time for them to let Kodi Burns be the QB this week against Vandy. It should be a great game in Nashville.

8. South Florida Bulls-They are undefeated and play in the Big East. Big fucking deal right? If this team goes undefeated in the regular season and plays in the BCS Championship game over a one loss SEC or Big 12 team I think I will have to give up on the BCS...just kidding, I gave up on a long time ago.

9. Texas Tech Red Raiders-They have played creampuffs so far and devoured them but they could get a tough game this week in Manhattan. Kansas State can put points on the board in bunches so it should be an entertaining game that nobody outside of those two fan bases will see.

10. Vanderbilt Commodores-Holy fucking shit. I actually have Vandy in the top 10 and not USC, Georgia and Florida. Someday I will look back at this post and realize it was the turning point for my growing insanity. College GameDay comes to Nashville this Saturday for their battle against Auburn. If Vandy wins their 3-0 in the conference and have a legit shot at winning the SEC East.

EBAY AUCTIONS ENDING SOON

Head over to our EBAY store page to check out some really good deals on some of our new items. As I mentioned last week we have some really good deals on College and Pro Football helmets too so if you are ever looking for a good deal on a replica or authentic Riddell or Schutt helmet let me know.

BEER MAKES YOU STUPID SHIRT

This is our new shirt in jest to a certain figure at football games. The person has become a notorious figure during gameday and has often stated that "Beer makes you stupid" when arresting or throwing out paid spectators. To hear more about the story click on this NDNation link.

This shirt comes at the request from hundreds of ND students and fans who have felt their rights violated in some part due to an overzealous security and police force at games. They have even disrupted good old fashioned tailgating before the football games which I'm pretty sure would get you castrated in the South. Don't ever mess with men and women and their tailgates!

The "slured speach and stumbly" on the back of the shirt is a poke at a certain usher's descriptive writing when arresting a spectator. The shirts are only $15 with 10% of sales going to Hannah and Friends, a nonprofit organization formed by the Weis family to help children and adults with special needs.

We are taking preorders now. The shirts will start shipping starting at the beginning of next week.

ORDER HERE

And please remember that these shirts are satirical and meant to be funny because as most of us know drinking beer is fun at football games as long as you don't go overboard like myself by drinking way too much and waking up later with piss all over yourself. God, those were fun days.

OFF TO THE GYM

In the past two weeks I have managed to get off my lazy ass and worked up enough energy into getting my round tub of goo to the gym. I want to get back into decent shape as I near the age of 30. As you get older you realize your metabolism slows down dramatically and all those beers and tacos (literally and figuratively) you consume daily eventually catches up to you to a point where one day you get winded just waking up. The hangovers get worse and the abs swell to epic proportions. It gets disgusting and kind of depressing to be honest. I hadn't been to a gym regularly in a while and I must say things have changed. Obama keeps talking about change and now I'm wondering if the change had to do with how much more open men are in the locker room. Take for instance this situation where I went in to burn some calories from the old beer gut and just wanted to change back into my normal clothes in the locker room only to be put in this predicament...


Video HT: Little Britain USA, a side hurting comedy which is a must see on HBO Sunday nights.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL COCK...FAN

Busted Coverage has the poonrific shots of some young sassie strutting her stuff in Gamecock and Clemson attire. Poor girl has a hard time picking winners with two South Carolina programs with struggling coaches in Steve Spurrier and Tommy Bowden both on the proverbial hot seat as their respective programs struggle to match their preseason hype. She should just wear the FUSC or Ann Arbor is a Whore shirt. They are always winners.

MCCAIN'S BRAIN #3: THE DEBATE WITH OBAMA

MLB POSTSEASON PREDICTIONS

Milwaukee Brewers vs. Philadelphia Phillies-The Brewers make their first playoff appearance since 1982 and come in winning 6 of their last 7 games but will be without starter Ben Sheets. This is a huge loss for the Brew Crew because with him I think they win the first two games in this series with him teamed up with C.C. Sabathia. Since he isn't there I see the Phillies winning game 1 behind a strong performance from Cole Hamels. The Phillies bats in the postseason against Colorado were colder than Al Davis' balls last year but I think they will be much warmer and alive this year. Ryan Howard has been on fire in the past month and Chase Utley is ready to prove how great of a player he is on a big time stage. The Brewers win game 2 behind Sabathia but don't have enough pitching the rest of the way. I got the Phillies winning it in 4.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs-Call me crazy but I wouldn't be surprised one bit if the Dodgers sweeped this series. Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez have this team firing on all cylinders so to speak and I think the pitching match ups favor the Dodgers in the first two games and possible the third. Derek Lowe has playoff experience and is a proven commodity whereas Ryan Dempster basically came out of nowhere this year to earn a first game start in the playoffs. I'm not saying Dempster is due to fail but I think Lowe will be stronger in game 1 and Manny and Andre Ethier will feast off Dempster mistakes. It is true that the Dodgers have the worst road record and the Cubs have the best home record among playoff teams but remember we are still talking about the Cubbies here. I think Carlos Zambrano will have a meltdown in Game 2 and put the Cubs in 0-2 hole. Rich Harden will come back and win in LA but I think the Dodgers pitching will hold up and they will get some timely hitting from the middle of the order. I got the Dodgers taking it in 4 games.

Boston Red Sox vs. Anaheim Angels-The Red Sox absolutely own the Angels during playoff time but the Angels crushed the Red Sox throughout the 2008 season. The Angels wrapped up their division almost a month ago and have been set on cruise control for most of the season. I think it catches up to them in this series. The pitching match ups on paper look to favor the Red Sox since they played in a much tougher division than the Angels and as a staff put up some great numbers. Honestly I think who ever wins the first game will win the series but I am interested to see how the Sox look without Manny Ramirez in their lineup come playoff time. Sure, Jason Bay is good but he is not nearly as good as Manny, especially in clutch situations. I'm going with the Red Sox in the first two games because I think Jon Lester and Dice-K are both better than John Lackey and Ervin Santana at this moment in time. But I think the Angels will win the next two games in Boston as their bats will start to heat up. In the end though I think the Red Sox are the better overall team in terms of pitching and hitting and have the psychological advantage over the Angels especially when you see so many Red Sox chowderhead bandwagon douche bags hanging out in Anaheim cheering for their flavor of the decade. Red Sox win in 5 games.

Chicago White Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays-The White Sox managed to squeeze in to the playoffs with some clutch performances from two future HOFers in Jim Thome and Ken Griffey Jr. last night. The Rays managed to win the difficult AL East behind some great starting pitching and a lot of young players stepping up their game. I haven't been convinced all season that the White Sox are really that good of a team. I know the Rays are good. Forget about their past this team knows how to win games, especially close ones. I think overall the Rays have a much better team than the White Sox. Their confidence is really high and their young pitching with guys like Matt Garza and Scott Kazmir are ready to shine. As much as I would love and pull to see a class act like Griffey make a World Series appearance the only way he will be there is as a guest announcer. Tampa Bay Rays sweep in 3.

THE GRIM REAPER TALKS

Now I know what Death sounds like when it's talking. Just a season after Al Davis traded away coach Jon Gruden to the Tampa Bay Bucs they have been a collective mess for six seasons and the franchise has rapidly turned into the laughingstock of the NFL. "Just win baby!" has become "We will win" which translates to when ever Davis sells the team or just dies.

Don't feel bad for Lane Kiffin. He will eventually get his money and should land a head coaching job in college as soon as Ty Willingham is shown the door at Washington.

Video HT: The Big Lead

NEW YORK JETS TAILGATES ARE FOR FLAMERS

This must be the reason why the security at Notre Dame football games has been so ridiculously over the top the past decade. It has become so obvious that football, booze, and cooking in a parking lot can lead to a fireball of destruction. Otherwise known to go by the name of Cappy at Notre Dame or Al Davis in Oakland. Both are good at destroying any sort of fun the fans might be looking for while rooting on their team before, during, and after a game. They must be stopped or thrown out because football just isn't as entertaining with those two guys in charge.

Video HT: Busted Coverage

BAILOUT REJECTED

It's comforting to know that political games along with pissing and moaning among our government officials will never come in between what is good for our economy. I mean honestly, I didn't really think all that money I kept putting in my 401k was actually going to pan out in the long run. I've learned a good lesson to never put good old fashioned boozing money or hooker spit money for that matter into something our financial institutions and government would just manage to throw away any ways. My bad.