A Manchester Classic

It was an opportunity for Mancehster City that came up short in heart-breaking fashion.

Yet in the end, Manchester United showed why it is still one of the top clubs in the world, let alone the big dog in Manchester, as a stoppage time strike by Michael Owen enabld Man U to steal a 4-3 win over Man City at the Old Trafford.

United never trailed in the match, but each time it jumped ahead, City rallied for the equalizer. The last equalizer came from Craig Bellamy, whose goal in stoppage time appeared to have salvaged a draw for City, but extended stoppage time gave United enough time, and Owen won the first leg of the Manchester derby with a strike in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

(Continue to Soccer 24-7)

Swann Saves England's Blushes

Typical England. Just when you think they're in terminal decline, they produced an inspired performance at Durham yesterday, with Swann's five wickets leaving Australia posting a decidedly England-like score of 176, enabling the hosts to avoid the ignominy of a 7-0 whitewash.

Swann and Strauss would have given their right arms for a turner like this in the previous six games - although the frailty of England's batting may not have made that much difference to the overall outcome.

(Continue to Crick Down the Legside)

Week 2 Could Be a Snoozer

With less than three hours to go before kickoff of the 1 p.m. games and this being a rare Sunday when the NFL Guru actually can kick back and watch all of the games since the Dolphins play tomorrow night, let's dive right into some bonus analysis.

One quick glance at the schedule reveals six potential blowouts, four nondescript games and five games that on paper should be compelling. That is definitely not music to the ears of television networks, although ESPN and NBC have two of the games I believe will be entertaining.

Unfortunately for those of us who enjoy a full day of football that keeps our eyes glued to the television if we're not actually at the stadium, seven of the nine games kicking off at 1 are likely to be snoozers. So if you haven't played golf in a while or gotten to the beach on a Sunday, this might be the day to do it, and then make sure you are back for the 4 p.m. games and the Sunday night showdown in Dallas between the Cowboys and the Giants.

(Continue to NFL Guru)

Dreading a Trip ... to New Jersey

I should be excited.

I'm going to the Meadowlands for a big Jets game against a division rival...and it is shaping up to be a great game. I should be really excited.


But I'm kind of dreading it.

Even growing up in Queens the trip out to Rutherford, New Jersey was such a pain. Actually, the trip there wasn't so bad - we could finagle it so that we could beat most traffic. Coming home was the disaster.

Now, trying to go to a Jets game from Framingham, Massachusetts is nothing short of a mistake. I'm going to try out the new train transportation to get there, but again, I'm worried about how long it will take to get out of Jersey ... and then what time I will end up back in Massachusetts that night (a school night, no less).

(Continue to 200 Miles From the Citi)

UW Proves USC Lacks Playmakers

Before USC’s 16-13 loss to the Washington Huskies, a lot of people thought that QB Aaron Corp would be allowed to throw the ball more than Matt Barkley did at Ohio State. Corp finished the game 13-for-22 for 110 passing yards, 1 INT and only 5 yards per completion. Head Coach Steve Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Nick Holt were familiar with all things USC, but Washington does not have the talent that the Trojans possess and this game should not have been close. The one position that matters is the one that the Huskies had an advantage at and that is the QB position. QB Jake Locker went 21-for-35, threw for 237 yards and no turnovers.

It is very hard to ignore the turnover margin, which was 3-0 in favor of UW, but the Trojans couldn’t get anything going with the passing game for the second week in a row. Joe McKnight is not a huge part of the passing game despite USC’s plan to utilize him the same way that they used Reggie Bush. McKnight finished the game with three receptions for six yards. McKnight only touched the ball a total of 14 times. Meanwhile, Sarkisian found a way to get the ball to his RB Chris Polk 28 times.

As Pete Carroll continues to lose quality coaches and it might finally be catching up to the USC program.

(Continue to Inside the Pac-10)

Gutless Vols Content to Lose Close

Tonight’s game had a lot of moments worth examining, but in all my years of watching college football I have never seen an SEC team try not to win a game that was still within some reasonable semblance of reach.

Sure Tennessee probably wasn’t going to win with 6 minutes left and down by 10 points. But Lane Kiffin and the Volunteers didn’t even try. How else can you explain the following sequence of plays –

(Continue to Saurian Sagacity)

USF Suffers Big Loss in Victory

The University of South Florida was supposed to beat the stuffing out of Charleston Southern on Saturday night and it did, 59-0.

The Bulls were supposed to get out of that contest without any serious injuries and turn their sights toward bigger prizes, FSU and the Big East.

They didn't.

Fate dealt the Bulls a real whammy when all-everything quarterback Matt Grothe, the all-time offensive leader in the Big East, was tackled, bent backwards in an awkward position and suffered a sprained left knee with three minutes left in the half and his team ahead 28-0.

(Continue to Running with the Bulls)

Tigers Chipping Away Playoff Hope

Words can’t describe how unbelievably perturbed I am with the Tigers’ latest “effort” during the first two games of a pivotal series against the Twins.

Where is the pride? Where is the heart? Where is the pitching?

No one would confuse the Tigers pitchers with other fine staffs in St Louis, New York or San Francisco. But at least the pitchers kept Detroit in the game on most nights. I’ve known all year the offense had lost a lot of its punch, so I clung to the hope that the pitchers could hold together — even if it had to be with duck tape and gum — long enough to get into the playoffs.

(Continue to Michigan and Trumbull)

Sip on This Fantasy Juice

The 2009 NFL season kicked off with a bang last weekend, providing us fans with the excitement, action, and superb highlights that we've come to expect out of the country's greatest sports league. While there wasn't a catastrophic injury that will impact fantasy owners like the one suffered by Patriots QB Tom Brady in week 1 of the 2008 season, there were a few that will surely hurt fantasy owners for the next few weeks.

Donovan McNabb, Anthony Gonzalez, and LaDanian Tomlinson all got banged up and will not see any action in week 2, causing owners to look elsewhere for production at key positions. You never like to see players go down, but it's part of the game and an important aspect of fantasy football is dealing with adverse situations like early season injuries to your stars.

Finding viable replacements can be a bit tricky this early since there's such a small sample size of games to analyze, but there are a lot of good reads throughout the Internet where you can find helpful information to help you make those decisions. I recommend http://www.rotoworld.com/ as a site that has thoughtful commentary geared towards fantasy owners.

(Continue to Inside Fantasy Sports)

Game of the Weak (Week 3)

Mike Hlas is an award-winning columnist with the Cedar Rapids Gazette and force behind The Hlog. Each week he will break down the biggest mismatch in college football. Considering the increasing number of Bowl Championship Series teams scheduling games against cupcake opponents, Mike's task is more challenging than serving as Lou Holtz's translator.

Why, Joe Paterno, why? Why do you keep scheduling Temple?

Is it to remind Philadelphia that your Penn State program is still the boss of college football in Pennsylvania?

Is it for the automatic win to pad your total for the most all-time major-college wins?

Or maybe you just enjoy beating up the little guy?

(Continue to The Wiz of Odds)

NFL Blackout: Jacksonville Goes Dark

A week after the Grill Room reported that up to 20 percent of the NFL games could be blacked out in home teams' markets this year, it looks like every host city but Jacksonville was able to escape the dark curtain this weekend.

Under NFL rules, a game must be sold out at least 72 hours in advance to be televised in the home team's local market.

Because of the challenging economic landscape, it is feared that many teams, especially those in hard-hit areas like Detroit, the Florida markets, and San Diego, might have trouble selling out home games this year.

We took our spotlight around the four NFL markets that were in jeopardy of going black this weekend, to bring light to our clientele at the GR on this dark subject:

(Continue to The Grill Room)

Manning vs. Miami on Monday Night

Needing a win in Week 2, one of the last players the Miami Dolphins want to see is Peyton Manning and his 1-0 Indianapolis Colts. Kickoff is at 8:30 p.m. Monday in Land Shark Stadium.

True, Manning has had his struggles against the Dolphins. In fact, aside from New England, Manning's 4-7 record as a starter against the Dolphins is his worst against any NFL team.

The Dolphins have also had more success historically against No. 18 than any team in the NFL. Manning's passer rating (76.3) and minus-2 TD/INT ratio are his worst numbers vs. one team.

(Continue to Dolphins Watch)

Phaneuf Hit on Okposo ... Legal?

Scary scene in Calgary last night during a pre-season tilt between the Flames and New York Islanders. Rugged Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf absolutely crushed Isles winger Kyle Okposo (photo right) with a thunderous open-ice hit, and the 21 year-old was down on the ice for several minutes before being wheeled off on a stretcher.

According to the team, Okposo suffered a mild concussion, and there is no long-term prognosis on the injury just yet.

Debate is already raging as to whether or not it was a clean hit. Needless to say, you can check out the blogosphere and see that Isles backers thought it was a dirty hit by Phaneuf, while Flames fans see it is a perfectly legal blow.

If you have not done so already, check out the hit here.

(Continue to Jim Cerny's Rink Rap)

Senators Get Edge in Heatley Swap

OK, I've had a week to digest the first blockbuster trade of the NHL season, which involved two underachieving teams -- the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks.

At first glance, I'm tempted to say the Senators, who lacked scoring depth behind the Big Three of Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, the latter of whom was shipped to the Sharks (along with a fifth-round draft pick) in exchange for forwards Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek, and a second-round pick.

Heatley, for reasons he has yet to explain -- maybe he never will -- wanted out of Ottawa, and it's never a good thing to keep an unhappy player around, no matter how talented.

(Continue to Through the 5 Hole)

UFC 103 Preview: Franklin vs. Belfort

This Saturday night won't be for the faint of heart but rather the enduring fight fans around the country as boxing and MMA go head-to-head with some of the very best their sport has to offer. Two big fights, one night, who will emerge victorious?

The UFC presents its 103rd PPV broadcast with "Franklin vs. Belfort", a catchweight bout at 195 lbs which is now being challenged by Floyd Mayweather who decided to take on the UFC and Juan Marquez on the same night. A dubious task that only the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in boxing would try to shoulder.

Regardless of what ensues, it will be an interesting night but I am here to break down the 103 card so let's get into it.

(Continue to Fighter's Corner)