Raiders Give Voice to Past

We had just lifted our beer glasses to the sky to toast a great day of football, when an old, wonderful voice came booming across the frosty hills of Southwest Germany and through the double doors of the Grill Room.

By now, we were into the wee hours -- and many, many pils -- of this Monday morning.

It was right about the time the Raiders (The Raiders!) were putting the finishing touches on their improbable win over the heavily favored Eagles, when we heard it...

(Continue to The Grill Room)

Saints Expose Giants' Defense

Going back to their first Super Bowl victories, the Giants have always been defined by their defense.

Sure they had Phil Simms and some others, but this is a team that loved defense. The fans love their defense. The NFC East is all about the defensive side of the ball, and stopping the other team from moving the ball.

So when, exactly, did the Giants turn in the old San Diego Chargers, a team that couldn’t stop any body? Because that’s what it looked like Sunday, as Drew Brees drove the Saints all over the field on the way to an easier-than-it looked 48-27 victory.

(Continue to New York Minute)

Sanchez's Slump Continues

It took almost an entire overtime period for the Jets to drop to 3-3 and officially be considered a .500 team.

But if you watched the game (which in one of my most desperate acts as a football fan I drove to New York to do), you saw early on that the Jets really are no better than a .500 team.

You may remember in the preseason that I said Mark Sanchez's fast start (48-yard touchdown on his first throw) was probably the worst thing that could happen to him. I also said the humbling game he had against the Ravens might turn out to be the best thing that could have happened to him. I forgot about that lesson as the Jets jumped out to a 3-0 start this year. And I take back what I said about his first preseason game - the 3-0 start to his career is THE worst thing that could have happened to Mark Sanchez.

(Continue to 200 Miles From the Citi)

Arkansas Has Reasons to be Upset

It's tough enough to beat Florida in Gainesville, and it's next to impossible when the officiating crew is putting the screws to you. Check out two calls and one non-call in the fourth quarter of Saturday's game, won by Gators, 23-20. Florida had to rally from a 20-13 deficit in the final eight minutes, and each of these plays were part of Florida's comeback.

Arkansas was flagged 10 times for 92 yards. Florida had three infractions for 16 yards.

It makes you wonder how level the playing field is in the Southeastern Conference.

(Continue to the Wiz of Odds)

Locked-Out NBA Refs Made Wrong Call

Apparently the regular NBA referees were oblivious to the fact the rest of the country’s in a recession or that the national unemployment rate’s a staggering 9.5 percent.

If they did know, why in the heck did the union reject the NBA’s final contract offer last month?

The country’s harsh economic conditions simply made it extremely difficult for the regular NBA refs to have any leverage in negotiations with the league.

(Continue to All Net)

Bet on ... Davydenko

Nikolay Davydenko outclashed Rafa Nadal 7-6 6-3 to win the Shanghai Masters final and clinch his 18th title, in a manner of style even more impressing than the score would suggest. The Russian, renewed after the bet enquiry, the scandal and the suspects followed the sadly famous Sopot first round match against Vassallo Arguello in 2007, is now the most testing opponent to verify a player’s fitness. And Nadal, playing his first final for five months, showed to have some way to go to find his best form: he managed only nine winners to the 28-years-old Rusian’s 35. Davydenko is certain to finish the year outside the top-5 for the first time since 2004. And is now the player with the best result not to have played a Grand Slam final yet.

Now the Russian is seventh in the Year-to-Date and improves his odds to go to London for the World Tour Finals. All players can add points from the Atp 500 in either Basel or Valencia in the week of 2 Novembrer and again at the Paris Masters. But Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nikolay Davydenko, Marin Cilic, Tommy Robredo and Radek Stepanek have all won two Atp 250 titles. And this could give some more chances for Robin Soderling, now n.9 in the YTD, now in Stockholm; because he won Bastad but has only 90 points from his second best performance in the ATP 250. So winning in Sweden, he could add 160 points to his ranking.

(Continue to ATP Tennis 360)

Glad I Saw the Game, But ...

Watching Independence blow out to a 41-0 half-time lead (it was 27-0 before I got all the way in from the parking lot) and hold South Meck scoreless until 3:01 left in the third before having the reserves hold on for a 55-28 final tally isn't going to help me much in evaluating just how big a game the Butler-Independence shootout is going to be on November 6th. I got fully enlightened on that by the gentleman who was *very* ticked that even though he has obviously supported The Big I as completely as possible with "family packs" of tickets, he would be given no preference when tickets for that particular event went on sale.

That acknowledged "biggie" may well mark a changing of the guard in Mecklenburg high school football. While Butler has built a great rep, Big I has a fistful-plus of championship trophies to show anyone who thinks they rate being called the best. Langston Wertz Jr. (lwertz@charlotteobserver.com) has seen a lot more games than I and puts Butler ahead, and I wish his one man campaign to have the game played at 6000-seats-plus-great-scoreboard Providence High on Nov. 7th the best of luck. That he thinks the State selection committee will let them play Sat. and delay slotting the two teams for the playoffs even a few hours is probably a Quixotian quest.

(Continue to Baseline Shorks)