Poor Lovie Smith. The Chicago Bears training camp is starting tomorrow and, according to a report published Tuesday by the Associated Press, the Bears head coach says the battle for the starting quarterback's job between Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton is "dead even."

If you're a Bears fan, the emphasis on that particular quote is undoubtedly on the word "dead." Having a quarterback controversy between those two guys is a little bit like trying to decide whether you would rather be trapped without hope of rescue in a burning building or on a sinking ship.

Speaking of sinking ships, is there anyone who really thinks a record of better than, oh, say 8-8 is too terribly likely no matter who wins the "competition?" Unless the Monsters of the Midway bring back most of the defense from the 1985 World Champions, the guys on the other side of the ball will probably not have enough firepower to overcome the offensive stagnation that's going to take place on so many Sunday afternoons, Brian Urlacher's $18 million contract extension notwithstanding.

And let's not bring up two years ago, either. Sure, Sexy Rexy led Da Bears to a Super Bowl appearance, but expecting that to happen again, given Grossman's history of maddening inconsistency and Orton's limited experience and lackluster numbers when he has gotten to play, seems like a stretch even the most optimistic Bears fanatic might not be capable of managing.

The bright side, of course, is that anyone concerned about the quarterback battle has been waiting months for football to start up again, so at least you have something to talk about. And what the heck, right now everyone's tied for first, so enjoy it while you can.

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If you love fiction and have a few minutes to spare, check out my website, www.allanleverone.com.

It's finally NFL playoff time. The long, drawn out first act is over and it's time to move on to the speed round, where one bad game can mean months of regret and a team that gets hot at the right time can win it all.

There were plenty of surprises during the regular season, both pleasant ones and disappointments. The Bears, one season removed from a Super Bowl appearance, had their flaws exposed and finished just 7-9, tied with the Lions for last place in the NFC North. Likewise, the Saints, possibly the surprise of the year last year, slipped to 7-9 as well.

On the plus side of the surprise ledger, the Green Bay Packers rode their defense and the aging arm of Brett Favre to an impressive 13-3 mark and the second seed in the NFC, and in the AFC, the Cleveland Browns finished a surprising 10-6, tying Pittsburgh for first place in the North, although they fell victim to a numbers game and missed the playoffs entirely.

Now, though, the time has come to handicap the field of the twelve remaining teams as the annual tournament starts. For my money, the best way to judge a team's potential in a single-elimination format against the best of the best is to review their performance during the season against quality opposition, which I define as any team with a record better than .500, or any team that finished 9-7 or better.

This year, that group includes all the playoff teams plus the hard-luck Cleveland Browns. So, without further ado, here is each playoff team's record against quality opposition in 2007:

1) New England Patriots 7-0 (1.000)

2) Green Bay Packers 3-1 (.750)

3) Dallas Cowboys 4-2 (.667)

4) Pittsburgh Steelers 3-2 (.600)

5) Indianapolis Colts 4-3 (.571)

5) Jacksonville Jaguars 4-3 (.571)

7) San Diego Chargers 2-3 (.400)

7) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2-3 (.400)

9) Tennessee Titans 2-4 (.333)

10) Seattle Seahawks 1-2 (.333)

11) Washington Redskins 2-5 (.286)

12) New York Giants 1-5 (.167)

A couple of things should be considered when looking at these numbers. The Colts and Cowboys both lost games against quality opponents in Week 17 who were fighting for their playoff lives, while neither team had anything but pride to play for. The value of those losses is questionable when applying the numbers to the playoffs, so if you eliminate them, the Cowboys improve to 4-1 against quality opposition, the second-best mark in the NFL, and the Colts improve to 4-2, moving them up to fourth.

Teams who should be especially concerned looking at those numbers include the Giants, who won only one game all year against a quality opponent, and the Seahawks, who played just three games all season against the best of the best, winning just one, that all the way back on September 9. The Steelers should also be hearing footsteps, as they started out 3-0 against quality opponents, before losing their last two. That, plus the injury bug which has hit Pittsburgh hard, will mean a short playoff run for the Steelers.

The second thing to consider when looking at playoff matchups is the difficulty of each team's schedule. A team that finished 10-6 with a difficult schedule should be better-prepared to face the rigors of the playoffs than a team with an identical record that played a lot of cupcakes.

To determine how tough each playoff contender's schedule was, I ranked every NFL franchise from 1 to 32 based on record. Teams with identical records were sorted by point differential, so the Bucs get ranked just ahead of the Redskins even though they both finished 9-7, by virtue of the fact that they outscored their opponents by a cumulative 64 points as opposed to only 24 for the 'Skins.

Once the teams were ranked 1-32, I went through each playoff contender's schedule game by game and added up the value of each opponent over the course of the season. The higher the final number, the more difficult the overall schedule. The results are surprising in some ways and not in others. Here are the results for each team's strength of schedule:

1) Washington Redskins 300

2) Jacksonville Jaguars 271

3) Indianapolis Colts 268

4) Tennessee Titans 267

5) New York Giants 264

6) Dallas Cowboys 258

7) New England Patriots 254

8) San Diego Chargers 248

9) Green Bay Packers 237

10) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 235

11) Pittsburgh Steelers 229

12) Seattle Seahawks 205

In terms of degree of difficulty, there is a huge difference between the schedule faced by the Washington Redskins and that faced by the Seahawks. In fact, mathematically speaking, the Redskins schedule was almost 10% tougher than any other playoff team.

But what does that mean? In one sense, you could say Washington is battle-hardened. On the other hand, having a difficult schedule isn't necessarily all that beneficial if you only go 2-5 against the best the opposition has to offer, as the 'Skins did.

By the same token, the fact that Seattle played a much easier schedule than anyone else doesn't necessarily mean they won't fare well in the playoffs - it's not their fault their schedule included a lot of cupcakes. The reason the Hawks will fall early has much more to do with the fact they only played three tough teams all year and only won once - on the very first weekend of the season.

It's an imperfect system, I know, but the best I could do, considering NORAD won't let me near their supercomputer any more after I crashed it crunching the numbers for my "What's in a Name" post. Hopefully they help you pick some winners.

Speaking of which, here are the results you can plan on for this weekend:


Saturday, NFC: Seahawks 24, Redskins 13


Saturday, AFC: Jaguars 14, Steelers 13


Sunday, NFC: Giants 27, Buccaneers 17


Sunday, AFC: Chargers 31, Titans 17

It's Top Ten Time!

As we wait breathlessly for the historic battle between New England and the Giants, with a never-before-accomplished 16-0 record on the line, it's time to look back at the ten best nicknames given to NFL teams over the years.

This is a highly scientific list based on several important factors, including: Historical significance, creativity, how much the names appealed to me, and how much each contributed to world peace. Okay, I made that last one up. Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

I then entered each nickname into a supercomputer which crunched all the variables using an algorithm developed jointly by NASA scientists and the guys who live in the basements of their parents' homes and determine the BCS standings. I can't go into any more detail than that; in fact, I fear I may have said too much already.

Interestingly, seven of the top ten nicknames refer specifically to outstanding defensive units, showing the importance attached to a strong defense in NFL circles.

In any event, the top-secret supercomputer spit out the following. Without further ado, allow me to present the Top Ten NFL Team Nicknames Ever:


10) Greatest Show on Turf

This nickname was given to the explosive offense developed by Mike Martz and executed by the St. Louis Rams between 1999 and 2001. The 2000 Rams set NFL records both for total offensive yards and for passing yards, and the Rams reached the Super Bowl twice in that three year span, winning once and losing once in the biggest Super Bowl upset since the Jets won Super Bowl II.


9) Electric Company

This was the nickname bestowed on the Buffalo Bills offensive line of the 1970's, the group which opened holes for "The Juice," as O.J. Simpson was known at the time. Before getting away with murder, Simpson had a tremendous rushing career in Buffalo, and his offensive line turned on The Juice, resulting in the ninth-best nickname ever.


8) Air Coryell

In the early 1980's, the San Diego Chargers defied conventional NFL wisdom, which said keeping the ball on the ground and controlling the clock was the way to win games. The Chargers used quarterback Dan Fouts's arm and passing skills to rack up yardage through the air. Coryell's philosophies would later go on to become the basis for Mike Martz's "Greatest Show on Turf" in the late 1990's and early 2000's.


7) New York Sack Exchange

This nickname was given the ferocious defense of the early-1980's New York Jets, led by defensive end Mark Gastineau, who set a then-NFL record for sacks in a season in 1984, with 22, and racked up 100.5 sacks in just the first 100 starts of his career.


6) Gang Green

The nickname given the Philadelphia Eagles defense of the late-1980's, coached by Defensive Coordinator Buddy Ryan. Reggie White, Jerome Brown, Seth Joiner, and Andre Waters led the defense. The nickname was later co-opted by the New York Jets.


5) Doomsday Defense

Two different Dallas Cowboy defensive units have earned this nickname. The 1972 Super Bowl VI-winning team was led by Herb Adderley, Bob Lilly and Mel Renfro. The 1978 Super Bowl XII-winning team was led by Randy White, Harvey Martin and Ed "Too Tall" Jones.


4) Purple People Eaters

From the late-1960's through the late-1970's the Minnesota Vikings played in four Super Bowls, anchored by their defense, which featured defensive linemen Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall and Gary Larsen. Their motto? "Meet at the quarterback."


3) Orange Crush

The 1970's Denver Broncos featured this run-stopping defense, led by linebackers Randy Gradishar and Tom Jackson, as well as defensive linemen Lyle Alzado and Rubin Carter.


2) Steel Curtain

The nickname given the anchors of the four-time Super Bowl winning defense of the 1970's. Steel Curtain members included Mean Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Ernie Homes. Dwight White, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Mel Blount and Andy Russell. This suffocating defense led the 1976 team to a Super Bowl win despite the loss of quarterback Tery Bradshaw partway through the season. The Steel Curtain boasted five shutouts that year, including three in a row.


1) Monsters of the Midway

Maybe the most descriptive, longest-running nickname in football. The early-1940's Chicago Bears, a team that dominated the NFL in those years, gave rise to this descriptive title, which was resurrected in the mid-1980's for another edition of a dominating Bears squad. Any NFL fan who hears the phrase "Monsters of the Midway" immediately pictures the distinctive Bears old-style uniforms and long tradition, including a 73-0 victory over Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.

There was an interesting item in cnnsi.com's "Truth & Rumors" section today where Bill Parcells offered his take on parity in the NFL. The former Superbowl-winning head coach was quoted as saying "There is quite a bit of bad football being played. Some teams are just so noncompetitive...It doesn't look like much parity to me."

That little quote tells me two things:

1) Parcells is still paying attention to the NFL, even though he's not coaching anymore. Another comeback perhaps?

2) Parcells is another of the many sports fans who reads Bread and Circuses on Foxsports.com.

Two days ago, Dudski posted a piece on his blog entitled "Worst NFL Season Ever" where, among other things, he laments (you guessed it) the lack of parity in the league and blames it on the salary cap. Today Bill Parcells says virtually the same thing in an interview in the Boston Globe. Coincidence?

But that made me wonder - Is parity really dead in the NFL?

There is no question that there are some dreadful teams this season. You need look no further than the articles all over the place on the subject of whether the Miami Dolphins can complete the perfect 0-16 season that has never been done before to see that.

And there are certainly plenty of two and three-win teams littering the landscape as well. But does it necessarily follow that parity is dead in the NFL? After all, there is a 10-0 team (as this is written) as well as two 10-1 teams. Doesn't sound much like parity to me either.

But here's the thing. Is the concept of parity meant to imply that every team goes 8-8 every year and not only ties for first place in their division but last place as well?

Or is parity supposed to mean, as Dudski says, "fans in nearly every city could expect their team to make it to the playoffs every couple of years"?

By my way of thinking, parity doesn't necessarily mean either of those things, although in a frighteningly boring scenario the first could conceivably happen. Parity, to me, means that no matter how awful a team is this year, and there are certainly a few of those, within a year or two things could turn around, and there have been very recent examples of that very thing happening.

The Saints from last year are the perfect example of that. Even the Packers of this season, currently 10-1 and one of the teams that is now beating up on the weak sisters of the NFL, was a part of that group as recently as last year. Sounds like parity to me.

The thing is, for every team that rises from the ashes there will most likely be a team that takes a tumble as well, hence the Bears and, yes, there they are again, the Saints, two of the NFC's best last season, are languishing with five wins apiece as we approach December. Parity? Could be.

Dudski laments the salary cap, saying that because of it, teams are unable to develop any continuity, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. But every valuable member of a team who is cut to make cap space can instantly be a valuable addition somewhere else, helping a team that may be missing one or two pieces to get over the top.

Sure, it looks like the teams who will be playing in the AFC and NFC Conference Championship Games are a lock right now, but I would almost be willing to bet right now that at least one of the teams Dudski mentions, the Patriots and Colts in the AFC and the Cowboys and Packers or Giants in the NFC will not be there. As Bill Parcells himself used to say (and probably still does): The goal of the regular season is to get to the tournament. After that anything can happen.

Just a few thought about the NFL's big day:

1) It's a bummer to think that there is no more professional football until next September.

Sure, the Pro Bowl takes place next weekend, but does anyone really watch that? Even as much as I love football, I can't be bothered to watch what is essentially an excuse for some of the NFL's best players to take a Hawaiian vacation on the league's dime. As far as football significance is concerned, the game ranks somewhere between the fourth game of the preseason and the last practice with no pads before the real games start.

2) The poor weather conditions were supposed to be to Chicago's advantage - what happened?

It is a universally accepted truism that bad weather narrows the talent gap between two teams, giving the team with less talent a better chance to win than they would otherwise have had. Unfortunately for the Bears, this only holds true when you can: 1 - Run the ball as well as, or better than, the other team, and, 2 - Hold onto the ball. Six turnovers in the first quarter illustrated how the torrential rain was affecting the players, but since there were three for each team, they more or less cancelled each other out.

3) This is going to be one long, uncomfortable offseason for Rex Grossman.

The man who spent the season as the NFL's poster boy for inconsistent play turned in another stinker in a game in which the Bears needed him to be a lot more reliable than he was. Grossman was stumbling and bumbling around all night like Britney Spears after last call. In addition to the fumbles and interceptions, he could have lost the ball and number of other times, but was barely able to hang on.

Grossman's decision-making suffered as well, especially late in the game when Chicago was attempting a desperate comeback. The interception he threw on the second-to-last series was an example of decision-making at its worst. Grossman threw the ball off-balance, off the wrong foot, and it hung up in the air like a wounded duck, giving Bob Sanders more than enough time to camp under it. The pass looked like something I would have thrown.

4) The Bears should have known better than to use Ohio State's game plan from the BCS Championship Game.

You would think that given two weeks to prepare, Chicago's playbook would have been a little more in-depth than the two steps it apparently contained. Here is a glimpse into the Bears Super Bowl playbook:
1 - Run back the opening kickoff for a touchdown.
2 - Suck.

5) When it comes to Super Bowl ads, you can't go wrong with talking animals.

For my money, the best commercials last night were the mouse pad one, the crabs worshiping the cooler full of Budweiser, and the talking lions. Speaking of talking Lions, either one of the two featured in the commercial seemed brighter than Matt Millen. I wonder if anyone in Detroit was paying attention?

One week to go until Super Bowl XLI (Are those Latin numerals correct? I believe they are, but my knowledge of dead languages is understandably a little shaky). Are you sick of the wait yet? Sick of the endless, incessant hype, and the stories about all the unimportant, meaningless background stuff? Unless you hail from either Indianapolis or Chicago, and maybe even if you do, your answer is probably a resounding YES!

You've probably also already made your mind up about which team is going to win THE BIG GAME. It would appear as though a solid majority are going with the Colts if the oddsmakers are to be believed, even though the Bears boast a better overall record, 15-3 (.833) including playoffs, as opposed to Indy's 15-4 (.790).

The perception seems to be that the AFC was by far the stronger conference this year, therefore the AFC champion should be favored. That reasoning made me wonder exactly what the toughest division in football was this year.

If you remove all interconference games from the equation, with the reasoning being that all conferences go .500 in interconference games (each conference went 12-12 in interconference games since for every winner there had to be a loser), then the pre-eminent conference this year was the AFC East, and the weakest conference was a tie between the NFC South and the NFC West.

Here is the breakdown of each conference's cumulative record, minus interconference games:

1) AFC East: 23-17 .575
2) AFC South: 22-18 .550
2) AFC West: 22-18 .550
4) AFC North: 21-19 .525
5) NFC East: 20-20 .500
6) NFC North: 18-22 .450
7) NFC South: 17-23 .425
7) NFC West: 17-23 .425

The problem with this breakdown is that it doesn't really account for the difficulty of different conference schedules. In other words, the AFC East's record may be inflated by virtue of playing a weaker schedule of teams in their games against the NFC.

A more accurate portrayal of the strength of each conference, I believe, comes from a breakdown of the results of the games each team in the conference played against quality opposition.

For my purposes, a quality opponent is any team which finished with better than a .500 record. So, even though the New York Giants were a playoff team, they don't qualify as a quality opponent, since they finished the regular season 8-8, and ended up with a final record of 8-9 after their playoff loss.

If you break down the performance of the teams in each conference against quality opposition, you end up with a much different, and I believe, more accurate representation of the strength of each conference. Here are the records of each conference's teams for the 2006 season against quality opponents. These records include playoffs:

1) AFC South: 14-15 .483
2) AFC North: 9-16 .360
3) AFC West: 10-21 .323
4) NFC South: 7-15 .318
5) AFC East: 9-20 .310
6) NFC North: 7-16 .304
7) NFC East: 7-18 .280
8) NFC West: 7-20 .259

A couple of notes. The best team in the NFL this season against quality opposition is the Indianapolis Colts. They have gone an impressive 7-1 (.875) against quality opponents this season, a record which should give Colts supporters a reason to be confident going into the Super Bowl.

Even if you subract the Colts record out of the equation, the AFC South would still come in second in the above rankings with a 7-14 mark against quality opponents. In my mind, this solidifies my opinion that the AFC South was the toughest division in football this season.

On the other hand, although the Bears boast an impressive 4-1 (.800) record this season against quality opposition, if you remove Chicago's record from the equation, the NFC North falls to dead last against quality opponents, with a pathetic 3-13 (.187) mark. This would make me more than a little nervous if I were a Bears fan.

There you have it. Any thoughts? Does my reasoning make sense?

I would have liked to get this post out a little sooner, but the big ice storm wending its way across the country finally made it to little ol' New Hampshire, and I was without power from noontime Monday until 11:30 a.m Tuesday. This meant no telephone, no heat (trying to sleep in a house when the temperature inside is dropping about one degree per hour is not half as much fun as you would think it would be), and worst of all, no internet access. It was positively barbaric.

Anyway, a couple of notes from the NFL playoffs this past weekend:


1) If you're a fan, you had to have enjoyed this past weekend's divisional round of playoff games. Whether you root for any of the eight teams left in the hunt going into the weekend or not, the football played was passionate and wild. Not necessarily clean or well-played in all cases, but exciting.

Even the Colts/Ravens game, which came down to a battle of field-goal kickers, was interesting and exciting. Note to Baltimore: Don't get in a field goal battle with the team whose placekicker is the most clutch guy in history.

2) If it seems like all four games were the closest and most exciting you can remember, that's because they were. The total point differential in the four divisional round games was 18: Colts over the Ravens by 9, and the Patriots over the Chargers, the Saints over the Eagles, and the Bears over the Seahawks, all by three points.

This makes the average margin of victory 4.5 points, the closest ever for the divisional round since the AFL-NFL merger.

3) Deion Sanders said something that made sense to me, which makes me question my sanity, if not my very existence. After the coverage of LaDainian Tomlinson's press conference following the Chargers loss to New England Sunday night, Sanders made a couple of lucid and sensible points. He said, first, that if you're a classy guy, you don't need to tell everyone that you're a classy guy, they just know. (Yeah, I know, what does Deion Sanders know about class?)

The other point Deion made is that LT was upset and frustrated about San Diego losing a game they should have won, or about being basically cut out of the offense in the second half o####ame San Diego should have won, or about certain coaching decisions causing San Diego to lose a game they should have won.

The bottom line is that the team in the AFC with the best regular-season record is now home for the winter, and the man who probably had the most to do with that success was upset and frustrated. Who can blame him?

4) I don't mean to pile on, especially after Chicago won Sunday, but Rex Grossman is an accident waiting to happen. If the psyche of the quarterback is so fragile that an early turnover would have destroyed him, as the commentators seemed to be implying in the Bears win, what does that say about their chances in the NFC Championship next week, or the Super Bowl two weeks later, if they make it? The pressure will be that much greater with each step along the way.

Lovie Smith seems to realize that it's probably too late for a change now, but Rex Grossman, in my opinion, is far too inconsistent to be reliable enough to take Chicago to the promised land.

Even though the NFC Championship is being played in frigid Chicago, that might be a detriment to Grossman if he starts off playing poorly and the fans get on him. For my money, if the Bears don't get off to a good start Sunday, look for New Orleans to ride their fairy-tale season right to Miami.

SABAN LEAVES ALABAMA FOR GREENER PASTURES - After denying for hours that he was peparing to leave and take a new job, University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban did an abrupt about-face today, suddenly resigning his position and announcing he was moving on. "I realize the timing seems suspect, what with the fact that I haven't actually coached any games here, or even cashed a paycheck yet or seen my office for that matter, but I've got to do what's best for myself and my family," said Saban.

Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore refused to comment, other than to refer reporters to the Miami Dolphins public relations staff. "Just put me down as seconding whatever they said yesterday."

**********

COMPANY CLAIMS JAMARCUS RUSSELL'S ARM JUICED - A company that uses computer imaging claims the LSU quarterback, who fired the football at jaw-dropping speeds and distances in the Tigers' Sugar Bowl victory over Notre Dame, actually has a large rubberized core and synthetic rubber ring in his arm, similar to the ones they say were found in Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from 1998.

"Examining the CT images of Mr. Russell's arm one can clearly see the synthetic ring around the core - or 'bone' - of the arm," Universal Medical System's president, David Zavagno, said.

For their part, LSU officials would say only that "All our quarterbacks' arms are subject to rigorous quality control standards and testing. No changes have been made to the core of the arm."

**********

REX GROSSMAN RESCUES BABY IN BURNING BUILDING; OVERTHROWS WAITING FIREFIGHTERS - Baby's tearful Dad admits, "I knew little Joey was a goner as soon as Rex pump-faked. Why couldn't Peyton Manning have been walking by instead?"

**********

RANDY JOHNSON TRADED TO ARIZONA; "IT'S 1999 AGAIN!" DECLARES STEINBRENNER - In an unexpected move, the Yankees owner rids himself of inconsistent performance and salary; declares his next move is to determine the availability of Scott Brosius to play third base and Paul O'Neill to play right field. "Does anyone have David Cone's telephone number?" asked the Yankees owner after the press conference.

**********

JIM LAMPLEY ARRESTED ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CHARGES - The long-time boxing broadcaster was arrested on su####ion he struck girlfriend Candice Sanders in an altercation on New Year's Eve. Sanders, who had a restraining order in place against the 57-year-old HBO commentator, would say only, "For a guy who's a big boxing expert, he hits like a girl. I'm going to withdraw the restraining order and if he comes near me again, I'm going to go all Marvin Hagler on him and lay him out good."

Sports have always been an important part of my life. Playing them, watching them, discussing them, writing about them, have at different times meant much more than they probably should to me.



**********This is for the girl who thought it was a great idea in July of 1988, although she was pregnant, overdue, and big as a Winnebago, to forget about dinner and head to McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I. to see Oil Can Boyd pitch in a rehab start for the PawSox. Oil Can Boyd in rehab - who would have imagined?

**********This is for the girl who never complained when I insisted on carrying our babies like Walter Payton blasting through the line, as long as I didn't go all Jerome Bettis on her and fumble one of them on the one yard line.

**********This is for the girl who agreed to spend big money on a high-definiton plasma TV, so we can count every stitch on a Tim Wakefield knuckleball. It's great for the Hawaiian scenery in "Lost" too, but we both know that's a secondary benefit, even if we never speak of it.

**********This is for the girl who never cared about sports before I came along, but who can now intelligently discuss what constitutes a balk move to first, when is a good time to call a pitchout, and why it's not always a good idea to call a safety blitz.

**********This is for the girl who encouraged me when I decided I needed to mount a baseball comeback at the age of 34 and play in the Granite State Over-Thirty Baseball League, sixteen years after ending a mostly undistinguished high school career.

**********This is for the girl who brought three young children to the Granite State Over-Thirty Baseball League, holding one's hand, carrying another, and pushing a third in the stroller, just to support one over-the-hill athlete reliving his largely undistinguished high school baseball career.

**********This is for the girl who never missed a beat when I came home from a game with my right eye swollen shut and twelve stitches under it, or when I broke a finger and decided I was going to finish the season anyway, resulting in a finger that now aches when it rains and will never again bend properly. What's more, to her credit, she has never once told me what she really thinks of such a monumentally stupid idea.

**********This is for the girl who has insisted her children stay active, and over the last nearly eighteen years has driven kids to: baby exercise classes, swimming lessons, soccer, karate, basketball, football, baseball, softball, field hockey, cheerleading, ski club, golf camp, Girl Scout and Boy Scout hiking and camping trips, fishing outings, and the probably dozens of other sporting events and school-related activities that have slipped my mind.

**********This is for the girl who will watch every Red Sox game and every Patriots game, not because they matter to her but because they matter to me.

**********This is for the girl who made me believe there might be people who would actually be interested in what I had to say about sports, and pushed me to start a HalfBaked sports blog on Foxsports.com.

**********This is for the girl who has seen the best I have to offer and the worst I have inside me, and is still by my side, almost a quarter-century after being crazy enough to say yes when I asked her out.

**********This is for the girl who has given me more than I ever had any right to expect - a great life, three wonderful children, and a reason to keep getting up in the morning. Happy Mother's Day, it's been one incredible ride, and it's not over yet.