I Like TO; USF Looks Really Good

There. I said it.

Did he try to commit suicide? It sounds like the Dallas authorities, who really didn't have a dog in that race, thought so. But, TO's spin machine was quick to pile on the pressure and force a recanting.

Whatever the case, it should be clear TO's the type of individual that experiences emotion at a very high level. His flamboyant personality has all but proven that over the past nine years playing professional football. Reportedly, he couldn't be with his son on the boy's birthday. Also, he reportedly just split with his longtime fiancee. Those factors, combined with what must be an incredibly stressful situation in Dallas (many expectations come with a $25 million salary, I suspect), certainly could drive someone who experiences heightened emotion to make a bad decision.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter to me. I hope that, if TO needs some help, he gets it. The guy's an outstanding athlete. More than that, he's also committed to fulfilling his role. Remember when he played in the Eagles Super Bowl game against doctors' recommendations? Don't forget he's getting ready to play an NFL game with a rod in his finger. I bet that throbs like a you-know-what when the heart gets pumping.

The guy loves the game. He's exciting to watch. He's fun to read about.

But what you don't really read about is the work he does for inner city youth, administering to schools, etc. He's human. And we'd all do well not to forget that.

I'm pulling for him.

On another topic, I watched the Rutgers-USF game last night. Boy, did the University of South Florida team look good or what? They really should have beat Rutgers.

Louisville gets to play both in November. Those'll be tough games. Folks may claim Louisville has it easy, not playing in the SEC, but I don't think anyone would relish playing Miami, West Virginia, a top 25 Rutgers team, a surprisingly tough Pitt ballclub and a deceptively strong South Florida team all in the span of a few weeks.

And, as far as the SEC goes, rumor has it that the Cards' AD, Tom Jurich, is working to schedule Tennessee and Auburn. Those would be great games. I think we'd beat TN if we played them this year. Auburn I don't know, but I think we could take the Volunteers.

Bengals Topple Steelers

Don't look now, but the once mighty Steelers are 1-2. The 3-0 Bengals persevered for the win at hostile Heinz Field. In addition to four touchdown passes, tying Carson Palmer's career high, the Bengals benefited from five Steelers turnovers.

While not an offensive gem (the Bengals had several turnovers themselves), Cincinnati demonstrated the fortitude to hang in there in big games.

Next up?

The New England Patriots.

Who Dey?!

Corso Picks Kansas State

The #8 Louisville Cardinals travel to Manhattan, Kansas, today to play the Kansas State Wildcats. Lee Corso, who used to coach the Cardinals and who's a co-host of ESPN's College Gameday, predicted the Wildcats will beat Louisville.

Granted, the Cards are missing their two best players. Both Brian Brohm and Michael Bush, two Heisman Trophy candidates at the season's start, are out with broken bones. But the Cardinals still looked really good in their punishing win over the top-20 ranked Miami Hurricanes last week (incidentally a game in which Corso picked the 'Canes and proved wrong, as the Cards blew out an ill-matched Miami team).

What's Corso see that I don't?

Give me the Cards by 14.

UPDATE: Did I say 14? Make it 18! K-State didn't even score until the fourth quarter! What's Corso's problem with Louisville? He's picked against the fighting Cardinals the last two weeks (and the Cardinals won both games by blowout margins).

On NBC's Editing Veggie Tales

NBC, which secured rights to air Veggie Tales reruns, has felt compelled to edit out references to God. This is, of course, the same network that's preparing to air a Madonna concert in which the pop singer is crucified.

I have a problem with that.

Political correctness has gone too far. For NBC, it's OK to mock Christ's execution: it's not OK to say "Remember kids, God made you special and he loves you very much."

Anyone who's watched Veggie Tales knows the animated program's aim is to communicate moral messages reinforcing Christian principles. Why would anyone secure the rights to air Veggie Tales episodes and then remove the very messages that fueled their success and popularity? I find that perplexing.

Justifying the decision by stating "Our goal is to reach as broad an audience as possible with these positive messages while being careful not to advocate any one religious point of view," as did NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks, is lame.

That's a weak excuse for stating the truth, which is NBC's sensitive to offending its more liberal viewers. The network obviously doesn't have a problem with offending faith-based audiences. I find that to be a sad reflection on the state of mass media today.

Yankees Crying

Let me get this straight. The Yankee are 11 games up on second place Boston and own the best record in the American League, but Yankees players and manager (Joe Torre) are upset Alex Rodriguez isn't stroking homer after homer (as reported in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated).

What a bunch of prima donnas.

The Yankees' Jason Giambi (incidentally one of the players at the heart of the Balco steroids scandal) alleges A-Rod has a "false confidence." If anyone's going to throw stones, Giambi shouldn't be the one. Giambi, after all, admitted to a federal grand jury that he used steroids. If Giambi fell to finding his confidence in a syringe, he may not be the best source on locating or even gauging confidence. Maybe he should cut A-Rod a little slack.

It gets worse. In a reported conversation between Giambi and A-Rod, Jason says:

"When you hit three, four or five [in the order], you have to get the big hits, especially if they're going to walk Bobby [Abreu] and me. I'll help you out until you get going. I'll look to drive in runs when they pitch around me, go after that 3-and-1 pitch that might be a ball."

What? "I'll help you out"? What does that mean? Otherwise he'd just be on cruise control when he comes up to the plate?

Do your job, Giambi, and do it every time you come up to bat.

Holy crap.

I'll say this. If the Yankees don't want A-Rod, we'd be happy to have him in Cincinnati's lineup. How we'd pay for him, I don't know. But we'd be happy to have him.

Most Boring MNF Game Ever?

If you watched, and I'm hoping you didn't, what did you think of the Steelers last night? Was that not the most boring Monday Night Football game in the entire 36-year history of television's most celebrated and revered sporting program?

Cowher, and the entire Steelers franchise, seemingly owe viewers an apology. How do you start Rothlisberger? The kid reportedly had a 104-degree fever and was 15 days off an emergency apendectomy! He wasn't effective (17 of 32 for 141 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions). It was difficult to watch. I can't even remember the last time a defending Super Bowl champion got shut out, no less on Monday Night Football.

Don't blame Big Ben, though. Where were Bettis and Randle El? Oh, that's right. They're gone. And so will the Steelers be from the division race.

Cowher's a first-class coach. Any team would be fortunate to have him. But Ben can't do it alone. Unless the Steelers offense gets cracking, it could be a long year in the Iron City. And, as a lifelong Bengals fan, that's not how I want Cincinnati to reach the playoffs. I'd much prefer beating a tough Steelers team, in the snow, in January.

When In Louisville, Watch Your Step

Five teams have stomped on the Louisville Cardinal logo that proudly graces midfield at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. All five have been soundly defeated.

The last four teams to stomp on the Louisville Cardinal logo lost by a cumulative score of 225-30.

225-30!

If you're an opposing team, do you really believe such classless behavior's recommended? What was Miami thinking?

Whatever. The Hurricanes were sent packing 31-7 and scurrying from the polls for the first time in 107 weeks as a result.

West Virginia, are you paying attention?

Can The Cards Be Stopped?

The Louisville Cardinals just keeping getting better. I was there today, courtesy of two tickets purchased from a gentleman on a Harley outside the stadium, and witnessed firsthand the systematic dismantling of the storied Miami Hurricanes program. What made the win so remarkable wasn't the 31-7 blowout (exceeding the spread by a factor of six), but the fact the Cardinals did it without TWO HEISMAN TROPHY CANDIDATES.

Although our best men (number nineteen Michael Bush and number twelve Brian Brohm) keep falling to injuries requiring surgery, the Cardinals continue to gain yardage (and points) at an unprecedented rate.

Can the Cards be stopped? Only time will tell.

It's Showtime

Or so reads the message on Apple's iTunes Music Store. It appears Apple's preparing to introduce movie downloads immediately via its iTunes service.

That's amazing. Not so much the technology as it's Apple's that's the first major provider to the market with movie downloads. How did Microsoft let itself get beaten, again?

I've had a wonderful Windows Media Center Edition PC for two years, now. But where's the option to download major motion pictures?

It's in iTunes, now, that's where it is!

UPDATE: Apple's done it. iTunes 7, announced and released today, includes feature-length motion pictures from Walt Disney, Miramax, Pixar and Touchstone Pictures. Movies will run $9.99 to $14.99. They'll work on existing iPods as well as a slew of new units introduced today. In addition, Apple revealed it will introduce an 802.11 wireless iTV device enabling users to stream movies and music from Macs and Windows systems to television sets. While Amazon introduced downloadable movies last week, it doesn't offer the ability to mate movies simply with portable devices, as does Apple's setup. Yet again, Apple is creating a revolutionary new market.

"That's A Big League Ballclub Right There"

That's what Temple Head Coach Al Golden had to say after his Owls were calculatingly annihilated 62-0 by the University of Louisville Cardinals.

Were there any question which NCAA football team possesses the most potent offense, and stingiest defense, those issues were addressed yesterday. Forget the NCAA polls. Look at the facts.

The University of Louisville Cardinals produced 671 total yards of offense, a nice complement to their 600+ yards of total offense produced against SEC rival Kentucky the prior week. And, they've allowed only 28 points all year (with 21 of those points due to a busted-play-Hail-Mary and two nonexistent pass interference calls).

Questioning College Football Polls

I don't get it. Someone explain this to me.

The University of Louisville Cardinals blow out a rival that plays in the Southeast Conference, undoubtedly the most difficult football conference in all of college football. That's not even debatable, so don't even start.

The Cardinals won 59-28. That's a 31-point margin, comfortable in any league against almost any opponent, no less a vicious cross-state rival once coached by the legendary Bear Bryant.

Already entered in every major preseason poll at 12th or 13th, how far up do the Cards move? We're talking about a potent team boasting two Heisman Trophy candidates that continued gaining hundreds of yards after losing its starting running back.

Try one spot in one poll and stagnation in the other leading barometer. That's heinous. No way. Not in a week where Michigan (a team for which I have a lifelong affinity and whose colors hang in my garage, a gift from my late and loving mother) gains a sloppy win over a weak Vanderbilt club and races up the charts.

What gives?

Apple Outpaces Microsoft

Here's an interesting observation from the back pages of the October 2006 Macworld magazine:

The Mac Pro's release marks the completion of Apple's less-than-a-year-long Intel transition. In that same amount of time, Microsoft went from a developer's build of Vista to a slightly less buggy developer's build.

Many contend Vista's still too buggy. Meanwhile, Apple rolls merrily along. The company's prepping the next OS release (Leopard) and is likely lining up movie distribution through its revolutionary, industry-changing iTunes store.

Cards Destroy Cats

As I told one UK fan seated near me at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, Louisville's 31-point blowout of the Wildcats may not mean as much down the road, as UK's Wesley Woodyard ended Heisman Trophy candidate Michael Bush's season with an awkward tackle. The Cards will likely miss Bush's short yardage efforts in such titan matchups as are scheduled with Miami and West Virginia.

What's amazing is the amount of yardage the Cardinals continued racking up using second and third string running backs, however, after Bush left the game. The Cards almost didn't miss a single step.

Just look at these numbers to see how overwhelming the Cards' domination proved:

Louisville had 31 first downs; Kentucky had 8.
Louisville had 631 total yards; Kentucky had 260.
Louisville had 363 yards rushing; Kentucky had 22. 22!
Louisville's Brohm threw for 254 yards, almost matching the entire UK team output.

What happens to Bush, now, remains the biggest question. Will he redshirt, or will he leverage his 2005 production to earn a spot in the NFL? Whichever he chooses, Bush is sure to find success. One thing's certain. The kid deserves it.