Throwing Out More Thoughts on Sports, Life, and Whatnot

I don't know what kind of magical substance they made the new NBA ball out of, but I can't believe that commissioner David Stern is giving in and going back to the old one-even though he attributes the league-wide rise in scoring to the new ball. More games such as the Suns-Nets 161-157 double overtime thriller might get me to start watching again.

Do you realize that there have only been five overtime games in the NFL this season? And three of them came way back in Week 2. Last season there were four overtime games in Week 12 alone. Guess this isn't the time to bring up the fact that the NFL's overtime rules are ridiculous, huh?

If I hear John Mellencamp's This is Our Country one more time I might just go off the deep end. Same goes for the beginning of Iron Man.

Can everyone please stop comparing the 2006 Bears to the 2000 Ravens? Whenever a team has a very good defense and a very bad offense, people instantly make the connection. But they're missing the point. The 2000 Ravens had a bad offense, but they took care of the ball. Punting was always a way of getting the defense back on the field with lots of room to work. This Bears offense often puts their defense in a bad position, which is why the comparison is not valid. Think about it this way: in 13 games in 2000 (including the playoffs), Trent Dilfer threw 12 interceptions and lost 2 fumbles (14 turnovers). Through 13 games this year Rex Grossman has thrown 17 interceptions and lost 4 fumbles (21 turnovers). Plus Dilfer got better at taking care of the ball as the season progressed. Grossman's gotten worse. Not exactly a recipe for success.

The Missus and I experienced Hi Definition in our home for the first time over the weekend. First and foremost, I may never leave the house again. It's remarkable how much different the picture is. But I have to ask the NFL: What's the deal with allowing some games to be shown in low def still? Plus it's not just games such as Raiders-Cardinals that get the low def treatment. Jaguars-Colts was in low def last weekend. You're telling me this billion dollar conglomerate can't spend a few more pennies each week and put all the games on in HD?

In the past three years, Red Sox fans have watched the surreal become the norm: The general manager spends Thanksgiving dinner with one of Curt Schilling-one of the best (and most sought after) pitchers in baseball-and convinces him to come to Boston; down three games to none to the hated Yankees, the Red Sox pull off the greatest comeback in sports history-a comeback sparked incredibly by a stolen base (something the Red Sox are not known for), Schilling's surgically mended ankle, and the efforts of Derek Lowe, the flakiest pitcher on the team; the Red Sox won the World Series; and back-up catcher Doug Mirabelli-apparently the only man on the planet capable of catching Tim Wakefield's knuckleball-gets a police escort to the game after getting traded back to Boston. Add yesterday's Matsuzaka watch-complete with a Web link that tracked his flight to Massachusetts and fans lining up at the airport with pre-printed "Dice K"-signs to the list.

Allen Iverson-one of the best players in the NBA-could get traded to the Boston Celtics as early as tomorrow. And yet not one person in Boston cares, not only because of the Matsuzaka deal, but because the Celtics have almost slipped behind the Bruins in terms of interest.

Back in college, my roommate Jake and I got so good at Nintendo's Tecmo Super Bowl that we needed a challenge. So we'd use the '90 Giants for a season but never play on offense. We'd punt every single time and try and win with just kick returns and defense. We'd end up with 10 to 12 wins and then invariably lose in the playoffs. Sound familiar? We basically invented the 2006 Bears.

I don't care what anyone says. If the Red Sox' deal for Daisuke Matsuzaka fell through, he would have ended up with the Yankees somehow.

I couldn't have been more thrilled to see LaDanian Tomlinson break Shaun Alexander's one-year-old record of 28 touchdowns in a season. I haven't liked Alexander since he caused a scene on the sidelines after he missed out on the rushing title by one yard two years ago. And I still say that Tiki Barber should have won the MVP over Alexander last year. Besides all that, is there a better, more likable guy in the NFL right now that Tomlinson? He's the kind of guy you want to use to promote your league. Plus he might just go down as the best running back to ever play the game. And think about this: He has three more games to add to his season touchdown total. 32 touchdowns-an average of two per game-is not out of the question. Plus he's thrown for two touchdowns. Simply incredible.

Having finally dug out from the 100 hours of television I had TiVo'd. I've decided that this whole "Fall season" thing works for me. New shows almost every single week through the beginning of December and then everyone takes a month or two off. I'm down. I got my fill of new shows, and had time to catch up on everything. Of course, I'll be itching for some new stuff in a couple of weeks.

Back to HD for a moment. When it was finally hooked up and ready to go, my first foray into HD was a program on the Discovery Channel about F-18s landing on air craft carriers. This is the kind of thing that needs to be on 24/7, just on the off chance that someone just got HD for the first time.

Before everyone hands the Lombardi trophy over to the Chargers, let's remember that last year at this time the Colts were 13-0 and we tried to anoint them as champions. You remember how that turned out, right? The year before that the Steelers were 12-1 right now. Again, no championship. You don't win the title in Week 15. Just keep that in mind.

Memo to fellow Red Sox fans: We can never complain about the Yankees and their free-spending ways again. In the last week alone, the team has spent $209 million. On three players!

There are 10 more shopping days until Christmas. Or, only a couple if you plan on doing all of your shopping online. That's what I'm doing.

NFL Week 15 Picks 

Wow. Not even picking opposites helped last week. Plus I jinxed myself talking about my Monday Night success. Let's try actually trying again this week. (Picks updated on Saturday, because I posted the wrong ones. I'm already 0-1 this week thanks to Seattle laying an egg. I said a few weeks ago that the Seahawks were destined to not make the playoffs. I still might be right on that one.)

SEATTLE (-9