This & That (Monday 11/2/09).....

--- Sunday, November 1, 2009 was the first day that the NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL all had games scheduled on the same day. The day before, October 31st was just as good as you could swap the NFL for college football. Great weekend to be a sports fan. Your remote batteries still work?

--- The NFL Game of the week was "The Return of Favre" in Green Bay, but Minnesota took care of business 38-26, with Favre throwing four TD passes in his Lambeau return. The Packer fans did boo him with a little extra zest then a normal visiting player, but Brett got the last laugh with the victory. Aaron Rodgers played well and through three touchdowns, but Rodgers' biggest problem was that he was sacked six times, and in the two Viking games he has been on the turf fourteen times.

The Broncos suffered their first loss at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens, 30-7. The Ravens stepped up after 3 consecutive losses, and took control in the second half, which in the first six games had been Denver's strongest time in grabbing their victories. Be interested to see how the Broncos respond next Monday night against Pittsburgh.

The Colts had a tough time with the 49ers, but remained undefeated with a 18-14 fourth quarter victory. The Colts needed a bit of deception for their final score, as the winning TD pass to Reggie Wayne came from Joseph Addai on a halfback pass, and not a traditional Peyton Manning connection.

The Tennessee Titans (30-13 over Jacksonville) and St. Louis Rams (17-10 over Detroit) both got their first victories of the season, and both rode their monster running backs to the wins. Chris Johnson had 228 yards rushing and two TDs for the Titans, while Steven Jackson had 149 and one TD in the Rams win. In Jacksonville's losing effort, Maurice Jones-Drew had 177 yards on only 8 carries. Amazing running days for these three excellent running backs.

Meanwhile the Giants lost again, this time the Philadelphia Eagles 40-17, and just look confused on defense, not in sync on offense. Did we over value this team, or is it just a slump?

--- The Yankees take the two weekend games in Philadelphia to take total control of the World Series.

What a difference a year makes, especially in the cases of Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge. Last year both had complete confidence in their pitching and were on the top of their games, and this year it is a 180 degree turnaround.

Hamels was pitching pretty well on Saturday night up until the 3-2 pitch to Mark Teixeira. Yes, it was close, but it was inside for ball four. Perfect sense that Hamels wanted it, as the camera caught his reaction to the ball call, but he needed to get back on track. The 2008 Hamels would have done just that, but the 2009 Hamels let it effect him. Once the Alex Rodriguez drive was ruled a home run (which I disagree with, as there was no conclusive evidence that the ball does not come down and hit the fence if the camera was not there), Hamels was completely lost. I knew watching that he would implode, and Hamels certainly followed his 2009 pattern. To me that was the turning point of the series.

As for Lidge, his confidence thread snapped in the 9th inning of game 4 as soon as Johnny Damon stole second base, then took third when no Phillie (Lidge) was covering the bag. As soon as that happened, Lidge went away from his slider and was only throwing fastballs. Huge mistake and the Yankees took advantage as both Rodriguez and Jorge Posada's hits were against Lidge's fastball.

Cliff Lee starts tonight trying to send the series back to Yankee Stadium. I think the defending champions will have enough pride in the tank and will send it back to New York for a Game 6.

Game 3: Yankees 8 / Phillies 5
Game 4: Yankees 7 / Phillies 4

--- Biggest news or event out of the NBA this weekend was Manu Ginobili swatting a bat out of the air during the Spurs game against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday (Halloween) night. Of course PETA has made a statement about the tragedy of the event.

--- The NHL had a quiet weekend, but a few of its biggest stars are banged up right now. Evgeni Malkin (shoulder), Alex Ovechkin and Eric Staal (both upper body) all will miss some time, and are needed by their teams and the NHL back and healed soon.

Some separation is starting to take place between teams as each club has played about a dozen games. Two teams, Carolina and Anaheim, have been huge disappointments so far, and need to start looking at how they want to correct their problems.

I don't want to see them every night, but I did get a smile from seeing the Montreal Canadiens' 1912 uniforms on Saturday night.

--- Florida and Texas tried to set themselves apart from the other top college teams on Saturday, with more impressive victories then they have had in prior weeks. The story out of Florida's win over Georgia was that linebacker Brandon Spikes was caught trying to gouge the eyes of Bulldog running back Washaun Ealey while making a tackle. Spikes has been suspended for the first half of next week's game against Vanderbilt.

The game of the weekend was Oregon putting it to the USC Trojans 47-20 to take control of the Pac 10. The loss was USC's worst of the Pete Carroll era, and biggest losing margin since 1997.