Who knows if I'll still be writing these things six years from now? But if I am, you can be sure that exactly six years from today, I will be calling it "Countdown Day".

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 1-3 and are still only a game out of first place in their division behind the Ravens. It isn't as if there is a team in that division that has been playing well or anything like that, but this Sunday's game really is a critical one for the Steelers. They are on the road in Cincy. I'm not going to try to hype that game as a divisional rivalry that has some kind of pedigree to it. I am saying, however, that if the Steelers lose to the Bengals, their season may come apart like a cardboard suitcase. The Las Vegas oddsmakers have them as a 6.5-point favorite but given that the Steelers were one of the early favorites to go to the Super Bowl and Cincy has just been an unmitigated boil on the complexion of the league for the first month, this is a skinny line.

Bryant McKinnie has a new slant on what he wants as a contract offer from the Vikings in order for him to sign and play for them. He wants one dollar more in signing bonus than the guy taken ahead of him in the draft. It seems he has this process backwards in his head. The Vikings show no urgency in trying to sign him; if they had some urgency, they would have done it a week ago so he could have had a bye week to work with the team and begin to get in shape. McKinnie also had to have endeared himself to the team with his statement that they can only run right - away from where his replacement is playing. He said that makes their run game predictable and has cost them one or two victories this year. If the Vikings are feeling just a little vindictive, they can trade his rights to the Bengals…

The Bengals have a tackle named Willie Anderson who said even before last week's loss that he could understand if some of the Cincy fans chose to jump off the Bengals' bandwagon. I did not know the team had a bandwagon. What band plays on that vehicle? Even Barry Manilow is too good for that gig.

Remember how the Pats kept the ball away from the Rams in the Super Bowl last year to keep the Rams' offense off the field? Last Sunday, the Pats had the ball for only 20 minutes and one second against the Dolphins. They snapped the ball only 48 times on offense and Miami had 44 rushing attempts. That kind of explains the dominance of the Dolphins. The rematch is in New England on December 29. If history is any guide, that game will have a distinctly different "ambiance".

In the Rams/49ers game last weekend, the score was 27-3 in favor of SF with 5 minutes to go in the third quarter. The Rams had a 4th and 10 and chose to kick a field goal. Why? I understand that the odds of converting on 4th and 10 are not good, but a field goal still demands three TDs to tie the game and there ain't a lot of time left to get that done. I think its time that the genius label come off Mike Martz. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Martz still thinks a playoff berth is possible and he cites the Cincy Bengals who came from 1-6 to make the playoffs in 1970 by winning their last seven games in a row to finish 8-6.

Memo to Martz: You are not yet mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. We concede the point. But one more silly reference like that and you will be declared the 2002 winner of the award for being the coaching equivalent of Spam.

The NHL season begins tonight. Here is a test. If you have tickets to see the Columbus Blue Jackets play the Florida Panthers six weeks from now, calculate how much caffeine you would need to pump in your bloodstream to stay awake through the entire second period of the game? Extra credit. You decide to scalp your tickets. Which portrait of an American president or founding father would need to be on the currency that you staple to these tickets in order for you to convince someone to take them and actually use them to see the game?

Queen Elizabeth II dropped a ceremonial puck at an NHL exhibition game in Vancouver. She was visiting Vancouver; this was not a publicity stunt where she flew in for the gig, signed a few autographs, hit the clubs and then jetted on home with her posse. Some of the media folks actually commented that she did a good job of it. Excuse me. I certainly mean no disrespect to Her Royal Highness, but dropping a puck involves letting go of the damned thing and having gravity take over. There is not quite the same skill level required here as there is in juggling, dancing or even thumb wrestling.

If you like pitchers' duels, you had to like the Twins victory over the Angels last night. And if you look for nuggets of entertainment in the myriad "crowd shots" that TV directors give you at all sporting events, then you might have enjoyed the sign held up by one Minnesotan who said:

"Contract-ulations Twins…"

The NBA is close to awarding yet another expansion franchise to Charlotte as long as the city fathers move to get a new arena built. Larry Bird and M.L. Carr are part of the group trying to get the team. On the assumption that the problem in Charlotte was actually a problem between the city and the previous ownership, then Charlotte deserves a team. The Hornets were strongly supported for most of their tenure in Charlotte. But the NBA does not need another franchise. As with just about every pro sports league, it is already bigger than its talent pool. Then again, in an expansion draft, Latrell Spreewell would probably be available which would give the new team a quality player to start with…

Finally, we need to see an athletic contest between the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago and Ursuline College of Pepper Pike Ohio. Moody Bible Institute are the Archers; Ursuline College are the Arrows. It's a natural.

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...

<< Back to the October Archives

= Home = Recent = Topical = Wagers =
= Archives = Pros = Scores = Contact =