Terry Franconia and the Red Soxs go their separate ways as Franconia may have lost the room

Boston Red Soxs went 7 and 20 in September and the Soxs were up 9 games lead in the wild card standings at the beginning of September and it costed Terry Francona his job as he stepped down because he had lost the team and was not able to get through to some players who did not live up to exception including John Lackey, Carl Crawford, Mike Cameron, and Bobby Jenks. News reporters have pointed out that pitchers on their day off were drinking and the starting pitching was horrible this season and were 28th in the league in quality starts and burnt out the bullpen that collapsed completely down the stretch. Francona made a comment and said "I passed along my frustrations at my inability to effectively reach the players" and also said "I ultimately felt that, out of respect to this team, it was time for me to move on" while general manager Theo Epstain "Nobody at the Red Sox blames Tito for what happened at the end of this season; we own that as an organization".

Terry Francona won 734 and lost 531 which is a 580 winning percentage and made 5 appearances in the playoffs in his 8 seasons and won two World Series rings including the ring for Boston since 1918 in 2004 and then did again in 2007 but in the other three appearances he won the AL division series but the other two the team lost the AL division series in three straight games.

The Red Soxs have spent the second most money in league as they spent just under 446 million dollars since 2009 and have no playoffs wins and the Rays spent just over 176 million dollars in the same span and has two wins and are in the playoffs this season. John Lackey (15.95), Carl Crawford (14.86), and J.D. Drew (14) made 44.81 million which is more than the complete roster as the Rays whose payroll is 41.92 million.

The first names to be the next Red Sox manager are Bobby Valentine and Lou Piniella along with current Royals manager Tony Pena and Davey Martinez but don't forget Joe Torres who is working for in the league office right now as Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and knows how to press the right buttons and what better way to get back at the Yankees then getting the manager that won them 4 titles in just over a decade.

Terry Francona will diffidently land on his feet and maybe a manager next season with the Chicago White Soxs or the Cubs or even the Dodgers if they could ever figure out who owns the team but in the end whereever he lands he will be a very very rich man until then he can get a suit and a tie and go to Fox for the playoffs.

He will be always remembered as the guy that brought the World Series back to Boston

Tom Mehegan

Ashton Kutcher maybe more like Charlie Sheen then we originally thought

Two and a half man star Ashton Kutcher maybe following in Charlie Sheen's footsteps as it is sounding like Ashton who has been married to Demi Moore who 15 years his senior for the bast 6 years and were dating for two years before that maybe ready to move on with his life without her. Ashton on their sixth wedding anniversary was partying hard at a San Diego night club called FLUXX with friends Danny Masterson and Eric Balfour and a young 23 year old named Sara Leal who has gone into hiding but will talk if the money is right and says she has a story to tell. Ashton was over heard saying that him and Demi are separated but that the public has not learned of it and yes nobody who reported this is actually putting their name next to the statement. It is also not the first rumor of Ashton cheating last year someone named Brittney Jones but at that time they were united in their responses but this time they are very very quite as the only thing that Ashton is saying is don't believe the hype and Demi only response was "When we are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger". The two of them are on opposite coasts right now as Ashton and the Two and Half Men crew are filming in LA and Demi is in the Big Apple doing pub for upcoming films she is in so Ashton may end up being more like Charlie than buying his TV house he maybe soon partying like a rock star like Charlie has been doing away from the show with the 25 mil he got to walk away from the show. Lets simply hope for the rest of the cast sake that it does not get anywhere as messy as the whole Charlie melt down and get through this season without any more headaches as it might be the last one if things break down again.

Ashton please stop following in Charlies footstep and make your own

Tom Mehegan

Tim Micallef & Sid Seixeiro heading to Rogers Sportsnet fan 590

Tim and Sid will be joining Sportsnet radio 590 the fan and their first show will be on December 12, 2011 and it is very exciting to me because I have been waiting since Tim and Sid : uncut in early September and there were no real signs of them leaving until I looked at the headline of the final podcast which was the final episode. So it was nice that they will be back live and with Sid's younger brother already doing the 2:40 and 7 PM which means that it will be a family reunion as they will be together the final hour their Monday to Friday time slot from 1 to 4 PM which is right before the Top gun in primetime sports with Bob McCown. It will diffidently wonderful to hear them back on the air and can only hope they are allowed to do their own thing because their style is so much better than anything the Fan or TSN radio has right now.

Tim Micallef & Sid Seixeiro look to be moving away for the Score and will by the end of the year they will be on Rogers Sportsnet Fan 590 in the 1 - 4 slot before Prime time sports with Bob Macown and it is a huge blow for the Score but I guess that means they will move further away from actual live broadcast as Tim was a big part of the NBA surfering program when the NBA was around. Tim and Sid are going to be huge winners in this deal because they will be making big bucks and not your usual 1 to 4 makes they will get closer to what Brady and Lang get for doing the morning show. The biggest loser of all without a doubt will be TSN Radio because if they could have made that deal it would of made them even more of a contender because they are falling in the ratings badly and if they could have moved Brain Haines back to 9 to 12 and drop Dan Patrick off the nearest cliff and move Tim and Sid into the spot before Jamie and friends show up it would be absolutely amazing. The only thing that would of had to have happened is that Sid would of swallowed his pride hard because he hates the 3 letter with a passion but listening to Sid on Score radio for the last two years is that if TSN stepped up with more money than the fan it would of been a done deal.

So the thing is now why wait to get them on the station and that is quite simple indeed and the answer is simply that Sid has to work on the next broadcaster program on the score and Tim will be doing the University Rush programming until the Vanier Cup which is ending late November and Sid's commitments will be done before than.

I feel that Sid's brother Alex would be a great audition to shoot the talk around kind of programming that Tim and Sid are known for in their podcast form and now we also know why Sid has cut back on f bombs during the later Tim & Sid Uncuts as he was preparing himself for when he would need to completely lose that language for radio or the producers will have to monitor the show better than that other guy who was around and lost him job because of the idiot words he used.

I hope they do very well but I wish they were not on at 1 to 4 and were on evenings or mornings so selfishly I could listen to the program

Tom Mehegan

ROH (ring of Honor) debut was a five star event

ROH debut on National TV on Fox over the weekend and it was a five star event focusing on the tag team division with two matches one in the first half a hour between Future Shock Vs The Bravados and it was a super match with great moves that Future Shock ended up winning and staying strong. They started with TV announcer Kevin Kelly in the ring and introduced Nigel McGuiness who was coming back to ROH and took the mic and said ROH is the place I want to be.

Before the bottom of the hour they focused on their big PPV Best In The World and showed highlights of the four way elimination Tag Team Match that the World Great Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) kept their tittles and focused on the Briscoe brother (Mark & Jay) attacked them after the match with steel chairs. Also they setup the theme for the next week which is the TV tittle with a great promo from Jay Lethal saying that the TV tittle is the step before the world tittle and then he said next week El Generico I am coming for your belt.

Kevin Kelly did announce that Davey Richards will be on the show in two weeks from now and the match in the second half hour was The World Greatest Tag Team (Haas & Benjamin) Vs Kings of Wrestling (Claudio and Hero who are both WWE bound) and Haas & Benjamin finished them off with the World Greatest Finisher (the Hart Foundation close line with Nighthart holding the opponent and Hart coming off the ropes and close lining the opponent).

So ROH has better focus on what they want on TV than TNA because they started with best division ie nobody else does Tag Team Wrestling and will follow that up with the TV tittle in the second episode and in the third week the World Championship will be on. TNA needs to hope that Spike was not paying attention to the show because the # will be higher for ROH's hour show to TNA's two hour show and almost had as much wrestling as TNA has been doing in two hours and the best thing is that Vince Russo is nowhere near ROH.

If I could change one thing about the ROH show is that I would put an extra match in the first half of the show and then most likely have 20-25 main events that are much better matches than a TNA or even WWE main event. Also I will have to get used to having all those streamers flying into the ring before every match begins as it is diffidently a breath of fresh air and great new blood in the shark infested waters known as the wrestling world environment.

ROH is better than TNA

Tom Mehegan

Bills do it again, Cam Newton finally wins, and Colt McCoy waits til the last 3 minutes to show his stuff

Buffalo Bills keep rolling as they were down 21 - 10 going into the second half against a team they have not beaten in 15 tries before in the New England Patriots and after going 3 and out to start the second the Bills then on the first play and a deep throw by Brady was intercepted by Leodis McKelvin ran back 21 yards to the Patriot's 39 yard line which lead to a Ryan Fitzpatrick 3 yard TD pass to Scott Chandler. In the fourth George Wilson took points off the board for the Patriots when he intercepted a Brady Pass at the Bills 2 yard line and after a roughing passer got the Bills away from their own goal line Fitzpatrick contacted with Donald Jones for a 30 yard pass and 18 yard run after the catch which lead to pass interference in the end zone on the Pats and Jackson run it in to tie the game at 24. Then on the next Patriots play Tom Brady was intercepted again and Drayton Florence for a TD but Brady moves his team down the field and with 3:25 tied up the game on a 6 yard TD pass to Wes Welker. Ryan Fitzpatrick came back and on three passes put the Bills first and goal at the 1 and ran down the clock and on the last play of the game Ryan Lindell kicked the game winning field goal to make the final 34-31 for the Bills.

Cam Newton won his first ever NFL game as he found Greg Olsen with a 16 yard TD pass with 4:20 as it was the only TD pass by Newton as the defense provided a safety in the first and a field goal in the second but they were trailing 10-5 @ recess and scored the only 11 points in the second half with a third quarter field goal and a two point conversion after the TD in the fourth. As Newton was held to 158 yards on 18 for 34 with a TD and interceptions as his longest completion with 16 yards and Jacksonville Jaguar QB Blaine Gabbert throw the only interception of the game as he went 12 of 21 for 139 with a TD and INT while Maurice Jones-Drew had all most as many yards on the ground 122 with a long of 39 yards.

Browns keep Dolphins winless with a Colt McCoy 14 yard TD pass to Mohamed Massaquoi with 43 seconds left and McCoy was 10 of 26 for 130 and a TD before the last drive where he went 9 for 13 for all 80 yards and 2:40 but the Browns were saved by Mike Adams who intercepted a Chad Henne pass at the Brown's 38 yard line to keep the Browns win 17 and 16. Chad Henne put up some good numbers 19 of 29 for 255 with a TD and INT and the Dolphins now head onto the road for two games.

Mariano Rivera is a legendary figure in New York sports history and the all-time save leader

Mariano Rivera and his cutting fastball are now the sole owner of the saves record as he took down the Twins this afternoon in a makeup game as he had a neat and tidy ninth inning going 1-2-3 through the Twins and he strike out Chris Parmelee looking for his 43 save on the season and more importantly his 602 save in his career. He has saved 518 games in 572 games since 1999 for a 90.6 percent games being saved and he started with the Yankees in 1995 in 19 games and 10 of those games were starts and then was a setup guy for John Wetteland as the Yankees won their first World Series since 1978 and he pitched in 61 relief appearances and his first 5 saves in his career after that season John Wetteland left for Texas for the big bucks through free agency which left Mariano Rivera in charge closing games for the Yankees. Now he has been saving games for the Yankees for the last 16 seasons and he has saved at least 40 games a season in 8 of those seasons and has saved 57 games in a season as he did it 2001 and 2004 and he has pitched in at least 60 games for the last nine seasons.

For the playoff he has pitched in the divisional series and has 18 saves in 37 games with a 2 and 0 record with a .33 ERA and he has been successful in his last 5 saves opportunities and 15 of his last 16 opportunity. In the league championship series and he has a record of 4 and 0 with a .92 ERA and 13 saves in 33 games and has saved 12 games in his last 14 opportunities while in the World Series he is 2 and 1 with a .99 ERA along with 11 saves in 24 games and has saved 8 of his last 9 save opportunities with 5 World Series rings.

The 41 year old closer is a larger than life figure in New York and he brought a winning attitude back to the Yankees and in return the Yankees has given him the opportunity to put up these kinds of numbers as the Yankees won 965 games in the 2000's.

He is a sure first ballet Hall of Famer

Tom Mehegan

Romo mans up, Bills can't be stopped, Charles Woodson loves Cam's juice, and more from Week 2 of the NFL

So Tony Romo got injured with fractured ribs and did not the second half and Jon Kitna came in and was hit and miss with a TD and 2 INTs in relief but with 37 seconds left Romo came back in with Niners up 21-14 and after a Cowboy three and out the Niners got a 55 yard field from David Akers. Then the Cowboys came back with Romo as he completed two 25 yard passes to Miles Austin and the second was for a TD and then after the Niners got a first down they went three and out and the Cowboys went down the field as sliced and diced his way into field goal position for Dan Bailey to tie it from 48 yards and he did but he had missed a 21 yarder earlier in the game. So in overtime after the Niners went three and out Romo throw a 77-yard catch and run to Jesse Holley on the first play from scrimmage and Bailey hit a 19 yard game winning field goal. Tony Romo went 20 of 33 for 345 yards and Miles Austin had 9 catches for 145 while Jason Witten had 7 catches for 102 yards and Jesse Holley who won a tryout for the Cowboys in a Michael Ivrin reality show had 3 catches for 96 yards.

Then there were the Bills who were down 21-3 @ halftime and came out and had 5 possessions in the second half and put each and every one of them in the end zone and put up an incredible 366 yards up in the second half to win the game 38-31 with 14 seconds left when Ryan Fitzpatrick throw a 6 yard TD pass to David Nelson. The second started with a bang as Freddie Jackson on the fourth play of the half ran for a 43 yard TD and on the next drive Fitzpatrick's 7 yard TD pass to Steven Johnson was setup by 3 rushes for 41 yards including a 11 yard by wide receiver Brad Smith and a 18 and a 12 yard runs by C.J. Spiller and the Next drive was set up at the Oakland 16 yard line by a 29 yard run by Freddie Jackson and then he ran it in from a yard out for his TD on the game. A C.J. Spiller 26 yard run and medium passes from Fitzpatrick of 10 to 15 yards but the ball on the Oakland 25 yard line and then a Fitzpatrick 17 yard pass to Steven Johnson setup a Scott Chandler 6 yard TD pass. On the final drive Fitzpatrick was successful on two fourth down plays as he completed a 9 yard pass to Donald Jones with just over a minute left on a 4 and 3 and then completed the game winning TD to David Nelson on a fourth and one from the 6 yard line. The Bills ran the ball 25 for 217 yards including 15 for 117 yards for Freddie Jackson while Ryan Fitzpatrick was 28 of 46 for 264 with 3TDs and an INT and Jason Campbell was 22 of 33 for 322 yards and 2TDs along with a INT and Denarius Moore had 143 of those yards on 5 catches.

Cam Newton started the game off well moving the Panthers down the field with ease as he went 5:40 to open the game and 85 yards for a 3 yard pass to Brandon LaFell with his favorite target being Jeremy Shockey with 2 catches for 41 yards and after Randall Cobb fumbled the kickoff Cam Newton went 5 and 24 yards and was stopped at the 2 where Orlando Mare put them up 10-0. Then two big catches by Steve Smith (31 yards) and Greg Olsen (34 yards) put them at the Packers 3 yard line but Mare kicked another field goal and it was 13-0 but then Arron Rogers completed a 39 yard pass to Jermichael Finley and John Kuhn finally punched it in from the one yard line and the Packers were on the board. With less than 3 minutes left in the first half it happened Cam Newton was introduced to Charles Woodson as he intercepted his first of two balls from Newton and in the second half it did not take Rogers long to take the lead on a 49 yard TD pass to Greg Jennings. The Packers just poured it on as two plays later Woodson introduced himself to Newton again and intercepted it and ran it 5 yards to the Panthers 20 and the Pack stilled for 3 points to give them a 17-13 lead and on the next drive Newton completes a 25 yard catch and run to Steve Smith and at the end of the play he fumbled it and guess who picked it up Charles Woodson and James Starks ran 40 yards and and Rogers completed a 17 yard pass to Jermichael Finley but they got stopped at the one and kicked another 3. Cam Newton charity was not done he throw another interception this time to Morgan Burnett and the Packers turn it into another 3 points and are up 23-13 and the Panthers cut the lead to 7 points and on a 4 and 6 Newton throw the ball short of the end zone and the Panthers turned the ball over at the 3 yard line and two plays later Jordy Nelson was dancing in the end zone after a 84 yard catch and run. The Panthers came back with a late TD but it was not enough as Newton put up another 432 yards through the air going 28 of 46 with a TD and 3 INTs and 10 rushes for 53 yards while Arron Rogers put up 19 of 30 for 308 yards and had 2 TDs and James Stark had 9 carries for 85 yards.

The Detroit Lions pounded the KC Chiefs 48 - 3 and Matthew Stafford went 23 of 39 for 294 yards with 4TDs and an INT and Nate Burleson had 7 catches for 93 yards and Titus Young had 5 catches for 89 yards whiles Charles Johnson was a touchdown maker as he had 3 catches for 29 yards and had 2 TDs. Matt Cassel was 15 of 22 for 133 yards but almost half the incompletions were interceptions as he throw three of them and his big receiver was Dwayne Bowe who had 5 catches for 101 yards and the Chiefs have been outscored 89-10 in the first two games of the season.

The Tampa Bay Bucs re down 17 points as Preston Parker had catch and run for 51 yards from Josh Freeman to setup a 36 yard field goal and then in the fourth LeGarrette Blount had a game winning TD with 81 seconds left and they also had a TD from a 25 yard TD pass from Josh Freeman to Arrelious Benn. Josh Freeman went 22 of 31 for 243 yards with a TD and INT with LeGarrette Blount had 13 carries 13 times for 71 yards and Preston Parker had 6 catches for 98 yards.

Two weeks finished and 15 more to come

Tom Mehegan

The Toronto Maple Leafs are still looking for the playoffs

The Toronto Maple Leafs have not been into the playoffs since the 2003 season which was the season before the NHL lockout that wiped out the whole 04-05 season and since then the Leafs have struggled mightily since with the Leafs always butting together superb end of the season run when the pressure is off and the closest they got was when in 2007 they need the Islanders to lose to the New Jersey Devils on the last day of the season and they beat the Devils 3-2 in a shutout and the Leafs missed the playoffs by a single point.

On November 29, 2008 Brian Burke was introduced as president and GM of the Leafs and he made a huge splash with a sign and trade with the Boston Bruins to get Phil Kessel for a first and a second in 2010 and a first in 2011 but then came the big problem because the Leafs had money burning up their pockets and under the salary cap and were and still are in need of a top center to feed Kessel the puck. The first situation was to use Tomas Kaberle as trade bait and Burke dangled him in first of the media for two summers and the center did not appear and not even a top 6 forward was pulled out of a hat and it got so bad that just before Kaberle was to become a free agent Kaberle and his agent put a muzzle on Brain Burke as Burke said he, Kaberle and agent Rick Curran are dropping a veil of secrecy on the subject. Then the next solution was to try and pick up the young superstars on other teams when they can not afford them and hoping those players would like to come to Toronto because they are local talent and want to come back home to play and the first was Rick Nash who eventually he resigned a huge deal with the Blue Jackets worth 27 mil over 5 years. Then there was Steven Stamkos and it got so bad that Brian Burke came out in the media and said if the Lightening are not able to resign Stamkos then they should phone him before taken the picks that the team that signs him would need to give the Lightening and Steve Yzerman the Lightening GM laughed and said we are not going to trade him and we are going to match any offer a team offers him. Finally there was John Tavares of the New York Islanders who just lost a proposal for a new Arena and looked like a dead duck with their lease up in 2115 and in the end John Travares signed a 6 year deal worth 33 million to stay with the bottom feeding Islanders.

Now they went out and spent over 4 million dollars this season to Tim Connolly to be the starting center on the first line with Kessel as one of his wingers but now the only problem is that Connolly is a hit away from being a vegetable as he has had serious concussion problems and another may end his career. The only real possible big fish in the trade waters is Shea Weber who got an almost max deal and is with the Nashville Predators who can not afford to be above the cap floor and of course there is a problem and this one is that Weber is a defenseman and the Leafs are stacked on the D with most of their money that they have used up of the salary cap and the only way they pick up Shea Weber is if they can find a fool to pick up Dion Phaneuf 6.5 million a season and with today signing of Luke Schenn 5 year and 18 Million dollar contract it brings it to 7 of the 9 highest paid players are D-men including Jeff Finger who will play in the minors.

So Burke will need to keep looking for the best talent as they still have money to spend and a need to get better upfront especially with the chance that will not last the season and he really needs to figure out how to do his business in private because when he tries to make deals through the media. In the end the Leafs in the 2011-12 season will go as far as James Reimer will take them and it is always risky business to pin your hopes on a second year goalie but at least for now he has a great head on his shoulder.

Frank and Wesley I hope they are great team this season and make the playoffs so U can remember what it feels like to playoff run

Tom Mehegan

triple h needs to check his ego at the door

Triple H is only a wrestling legend because he married the right person in Stephanie McMahon because he has not been a top draw in the WWE for over a decade and when he did draw it was apart of the attitude era where the likes of The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin were so much more apart of boom period then Triple H and his little doggy too known as Shawn Michaels. When did their little skits in the ring it was time to turn the channel and if it was not Triple H and Shawn Michaels being shoved down our throats then DX would been re branded very quickly and now all Triple H is good for is destroying the talent that could sell the business better than he could ever do in CM Punk who is a million times better on the mic and could wrestle circles around on Sunday. Instead Triple H will win the match because there is no way in the world that Trips will be out as COO when though I would love to see what would happen if CM Punk was COO of the WWE but it will not happen and CM Punk will be Buried by Trips and maybe back to the mid-card like former World Champion the Miz who will be teaming with R-Truth against Air Boom for the very weak Tag Team Champions on Sunday night at Night of Champion. Also a guys like Daniel Bryant and Sin Ciara who are big stars outside of the WWE with Daniel was a huge star on the indies while Sin Ciara was a mega star in Mexico but both are being buried by the WWE because the WWE do not like someone's else mega talent and Triple H is supposed to be building new star and instead it is more of Vince being Vince. When Triple H does promos with other wrestlers he tries to put do the other wrestler and only try and get himself over which is not good for the business because building up new stars is what will keep the WWE strong in the future.

Triple H needs to put other CM Punk

Tom Mehegan

Cam Newton has a NFL debut to be remembered

Cam Newton just lite up the Cardinals defense as he throw up 422 yards through the air as he went 23 of 37 as the Panthers came up two yards short of taking the game into overtime and a yard away from a first down with 74 seconds left in the game as the Cardinals beat them 28-21. Cam Newton threw the ball deep as Steve Smith had 77 yard catch and run and ended up with 8 catches for 178 yards in the game while TE Greg Olsen had a 43 yard catch and run and Brandon LaFell had a 27 yards catch and run. Then former Saints and Giants TE Jeremy Shockey had a 22 yard catch and run and Legedu Naanee had a 21 yard catch and run so he allow got help from his receivers who ran after the catch while Newton also ran 8 times for 18 yards and broke off a 12 yard run.

Cam Newton put up the highest total throw the air as a rookie in NFL history and strangely enough it was not a Panthers record for yards through the air and of course when you think of Panthers quarterbacks of the past U think Jake Delhomme but it was instead Chris Weinke in his start since his rookie season on December 10th, 2006 against the New York football Giants he put up 423 yards in a 27-13 loss. Also during the NFL lockout Cam Cam took his juice juice went down to Bradenton, Florida where was apart of IMG Madden Football Academy where he trained with none other than Chris Weinke on a daily workout of up two hours.

Cam Newton may have had a mind blowing performance against the Cardinals defense on the road in the dead of Arizona but he is still a rookie quarterback and unlike a rookie wide receiver or running back he will still have his highs and lows just like Troy Aikman who started his NFL career in 1989 the same year that Cam was born and was 1 and 15 with the Cowboys and he throw 9 TDs and 18 INTs in that season. So it maybe another season of growing pains for the Carolina Panthers and there rookie quarterback as he maybe good one week than bad the next and by the end of the season the Panthers maybe like 5 - 11 or worst and Cam Cam maybe still up for rookie of the year in the NFL but who really knows as they could be 7 and 9 and win their division as well.

Thanks for reading this

Tom Mehegan

A day of shocking results in the NFL

The Buffalo Bills went into Kansas City and just throw them around the field like nobody elses business even though the Chiefs were suppose to take a step back because they had a first place schedule but the Bills are not exactly a first place team in almost anyone's book. So the Bills came away with 41-7 victory where the Chiefs started with an opening kickoff fumble by Dexter McCluster and 6 plays later Scott Chandler gets the ball in traffic and walks into the end zone for a 4 yard TD catch and before the quarter Ryan Fitzpatrick heaved a 35 yard pass to David Nelson and followed by a 27 yard jump ball that was brought down by Steve Johnson for a TD and 14-0 Bills and they went into the second half with a 20-7 lead. In the second Freddie Jackson with the first offensive play of the second run for 24 yards and the Bills scored touchdowns on their first three drives of the second half and Ryan Fitzpatrick aired out at ball more than the Bills have in a while and he ended up 17 of 25 for 208 and 4TD passes and the Chiefs could not keep up with the Bills receivers while Matt Cassel did not challenge the Bills defense going 22 of 36 for 119 yards. While Freddie Jackson kept the clock moving by having a couple of good rushes as he went 20 for 112 yards and Bryan Scott was all over the field with 8 tackles and a sack.

The Baltimore Ravens came into the game today with 20 new players on their team and hearing that Big Ben had beaten them the last 7 times he had faced the Ravens but the Ravens made it their mission to teach the Steelers and the rest of the league how good they could be. The Ravens defense were their ball hogging selves today by ending Steelers drives seven times with a turnover with Lardarius Webb running all over the field having 9 tackles and 2 assists while King Lewis had 6 tackles and an assist to go with an interception and forced fumble while his assistants Ed Reed had 2 interceptions to go with 6 tackles and Terrell Suggs had 2 forced fumbles to with 5 tackles. On offense Joe Flacco went 17 of 29 for 224 yards and three TDs and Ray Rice with his new contract carried the ball 19 times for 107 yards and catch the ball 4 times for 42 yards and a TD through the air and on the ground and finally Anquan Boldin caught 4 passes for 74 yards and a TD. While Big Ben went 22 of 41 for 280 yards with a TD but he also completed three passes to the Ravens defense and he left the ball on the carpet twice to be recovered by the Ravens and Mike Wallace was his go to receiver catching 8 balls for 107 yards.

The Houston Texans came into the season saying that this was going to their season to make the playoffs and win the division and it all the falling into place for them with Payton Manning out for most of the season at least and they gave the Colts their worst beating in franchise history with a 34-7 victory and Kerry Collins set up two early Texans TD by fumbled consecutive snaps both recovered by the Texans. The Texans had everything going for them as Jacoby Jones returned a punt 79 yards for TD and Ben Tate ran 24 times for 116 yards while Andre Johnson got the ball as he caught 7 for 95 yards. Then there was Matt Schaub went 17 of 24 for 220 yards with a TD and two interception and on defense Mario Williams came from a linebacker position and had two sacks on the day while Brian Cushing was all over the field with 4 tackles and 3 assists while Reggie Wayne 7 catches for 106 yards and Pat Angerer who was all over the place with 9 tackles and 4 assists were the only two bright spots for the Colts.

Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons went into Chicage and got a rude awakening as the Bears just took apart the Falcons defense and even though Jay Cutler was usually on his butt watching the end of the play he was still making huge plays and even when he dropped the ball off to Matt Forte for a simple 5 yard play Matt Forte still ended up 56 yards down the field in the end zone. The defense got into the act when Brian Urlacher made an amazing play to pick off Matty Ice and then picked up the ball after Matty dropped it and took it to the house for a TD and while it was an air show with Matty Ice throwing for 319 yards he still had to heave the ball up 47 times and had no TD to go with that Urlacher INT while Jay Cutler only had to throw it up 32 times and he did complete 22 of them for 312 yards and two TDs and an INT while Matty completed 32 of his passes. The Falcons only ran the ball 14 times for 110 yards but 53 of them were on a single run by Michael Turner while the Bears ran it 27 carries for 88 yards and 27 of them were on Matt Forte run while on defense Tim Jennings had 7 tackles and an assist while Urlacher had 6 tackles and 4 assists and Charles Tillman had 5 tackles to with 2 assists and a forced fumble as the Bears won 30-12 with the Falcons only getting a single TD and now have to go home to face the Eagles.

Tom Mehegan

9/11 on its 10th anniversary

10 years after 9/11 the US is still trying to beat down Iraq but it is a lot quieter than in the past and the States are financially in the dumps with places in the states like Jacksonville where a lot of people of unemployed and houses upon houses are boarded up. Then there are 39 states in the United States are in the red and the estimated total of the debt is going to be north 180 billion dollars and the Federal Government barely excepted filling for bankruptcy like Greece and it does not look like they will be turning it around any time soon.

So on September 11, 2001 planes were taking over and the pilots planned to go straight for the twin towers and worst thing about what happened is that reports have been out there that people in power in the united states government know that it was going to happen and could of prevented what happened just like during pearl harbor when the government made sure that their ships were out at sea when Japan attacked. Now the States have stepped up their security at airports and at the borders between Canada and the United States as well as between the Mexico - United States boarder crossing.

The NFL has become the biggest sports league in the United States and on the 10th anniversary will have 13 games being played with ceremonies happening at all 13 stadiums with the biggest ceremony will be in New York City which will be the Sunday nighter between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Jets. While there will be a big ceremony at the beginning of the Sunday night baseball game in New York as well as the New York Mets will be hosting the Chicago Cubs and the biggest ceremony will be held at ground zero and Barack Obama and Stephen Harper will be both at ground zero for the massive event at ground zero.

So things are so much worst now than it was 10 years ago in the United States

Tom Mehegan

Colts in for a tough season and a high draft pick

Indianapolis Colts season maybe already counting their lottery balls already as Payton Manning is gone from between two and three month as he had more surgery on his neck which means that until week 10 or somewhere around that time it will be a quarterback like Kerry Collins will be stepping back and throwing the ball 30 or 40 a game. This is because the Colts running game is not very good because Joseph Addai has not put a very good as he has 3.5 - 4.3 per carry and has run for less than 900 yards in the last three season and has not played every game since his rookie season. The other running back Donald Brown had 495 yards on 129 carries with a 3.9 yard per carry last season and they have also got a rookie running backs Darren Evans and Darren Evans who may need to break through to take the pressure off the quarterback and it may come down to Curtis Painter being the starting quarterback and in his two seasons with the Colts he has played in two games and only completed 8 for 28 for 83 yards with 2 INTs.

So Payton Manning has played 227 consecutive games and the last quarterback to start a game for the Colts that was not named Payton Manning is Jim Harbaugh who will be in his first game on Sunday as the Niners head coach. The defense has not been the strongest defense especially run defense as teams have been running over the Colts time and time again as they were tied for sixth in yards per carry with 4.6 and eighth in yards per game with 127 for a total yards of 2032 and it will only be more this season because teams had to stop running the ball because they were down a couple of touchdowns as Manning just lite teams up through the air and the other team had to abandon the run.

Teams will be sitting on Reggie Wayne while Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie will need to work harder to get open as it will be a simpler playbook but it will be extremely hard for Kerry Collins or Curtis Painter to get the job done for this pass happy team.

Thanks

Tom Mehegan

Blood, sugar, sex, Magik and Nevermind are now 20 year old alubams but still as good as ever

So in two weeks from now on the first day of Fall (September 21st) and it be the 20th anniversary of two of the biggest albums in music history were released as the Red Hot Chill Peppers's Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik and Nirvana's Nevermind were released the same exact day.

I can remember being a 14 year-old crazy freak up at my friend's country house listening to those two CDs almost non stop and both albums had such good music and would set the tempo for music for years and years to come. As Nirvana set up the explosion of the Seattle scene that brought brands along with them like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Sound Garden, and even brought a group like Sonic Youth who started a decade before the Seattle scene hit the main stream.

Nirvana introduced the world to songs like Smell like Teen Spirit that turn the music industry on its ear so much that DGC Records sent the song out as a warm up act basically as they were thinking that the next single Come as You Are was going to be the song that was going to sell the album and they sent 46,251 copies to North America and 35,000 to the United Kingdom and they were hoping that Nevermind would sell 250,000 copies. Instead by November,1991 it was top 40 on the Billboard charts and in January, 1992 Nevermind replaced Michael Jackson's Dangerous and was selling an average 300,000 copies a week and the third (Lithium) and fourth (In Bloom) singles were huge as well and I still enjoy listen to the songs when I hear them.

Then there is the Chill Peppers who were underground music starting in the middle of the 80's and then a cover of a Stevie Wonder song in Higher Ground got them noticed but when Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik just brought them to the masses and they are still here today but a song like under the bridge based which is a tribute to former pepper guitarist Hillel Slovak and another person the song about was former girlfriend Ione Skye. Under The Bridge was the lead single and it a classic song that was followed by other classic songs like give it away and suck my kiss and after drug troubles before and after the album they are still as strong as ever today.

Nirvana only lasted between 1989 and 1994 but their legacy is still carried on today through drummer Dave Grohl and his band the Foo Fighter and Nirvana's influence is still being felt today with Nickelback and Weezer.

This music brings me back to my childhood and setup the hottest alternative music has been until the middle of the 90's and got us away from the hair bands of the middle to late 80's and the pop tart music of the late 80's like NKOTB and Debbie Gibson along with Tiffany until it came back in the late 90's with 'nsync and Brittney along with Backstreet boys.

The early 90's music was awesome

Tom Mehegan

CC Sabathia could opt out of his contract at the end of the season

CC Sabathia could and will opt out of his contract as he he has an salary of 24.2 mil a season for the next season and has received 73 of his 161 million dollar contract including a 9 million dollar signing bonuses so he would receive 88 mil over the next 4 seasons. He has become a better pitcher as a Yankee which can not be said for other Yankee pitchers like A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes which means that the Yankees after CC has very young and inexperience pitching staff like the amazing Ivan Nova who has a great 15-3 record but no post season experience while Phil Hughes has a great season last season with a 18 and 8 record but has been injured this season while Freddy Garcia is above average pitcher with a 11 and 7 record and Bartolo Colon has a 9 and 9 record. This all means that the Yankees will be desperate to keep CC around and will try to resign him in the off season and the question that would be asked is if the Red Soxs will stick their noise into the matter and try to sign him away from the Yankees. They are the only team that will stick their noise in it as the Dodgers and Mets are complete mess and teams like the Angels and Rangers along with the Phillies will not have the money and in the case of the Phillies they will not have any real interest because their staff is stacked already and if they went after someone it would be a Jose Reyes or Prince Fielder (don't know where to put him but it is possible).

It is extremely possible that the Red Soxs will try to screw the Yankees and CC is that important to the Yankees as he is 58 and 22 in three seasons with the Yankees and has a ERA of 3.18 and is a work horse as he has pitched over 200 innings and most likely over 230 inning a season over those 5 season.

CC will be a keeper whoever gets him

Tom Mehegan

UFC and Fox ready to ground and pound with Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez with their main event

UFC president announced that the world heavyweight championship fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos has been moved from the Nov. 19 UFC 139 pay-per-view to the organization’s Nov 12 debut on FOX. Which will take away from PPV pays and put the focus on the first UFC national TV card on one of the big four networks and given the UFC monster exposure to the North American audience as the Spike network got the UFC's foot in the door especially with the ultimate fighter series. The UFC being on to FOX will bring it to a whole new audience and the Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos match will be what keeps the audience coming back for more. So it is a very smart move on Dana White's part to move the match and it will be going up against Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez on PPV and UFC 139 will now have a less noticeably card the following week and the question is really if PPV buyers will pay 60 plus dollars on consecutive weekends. It is very possible that the free UFC card with Cain Velasquez first title defense against No. 1 contender Junior Dos Santos will take PPV buys away from the boxing match and Fox will be extremely impressed by the number at the November 12 event will bring in for the network.

Tom Mehegan