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SIDELINE ARCHIVE Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale LOOKING BEYOND NFL WEEK 1 After so much offseason, I found myself unusually distracted during the NFL's opening Sunday. Women's World Cup, Men's International Soccer, Rugby World Cup, Formula One Racing, NCAA football, and the small matter of the US Open Tennis finals conspired to turn the NFL into a series of impressions rather than the sense–drowning experience the offseason had promised. There was Justine Henin, landing the US Open title after a blistering run in which she had to defeat both Williams sisters in front of their home crowd before dismissing Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–1 6–3 in the final. There was Roger Federer, claiming his 12th Grand Slam title in a tight battle with Novak Djokovic that displayed exactly what kind of mettle this great for the ages is made of. And there was Lewis Hamilton, the rookie F1 driver, clinging to his championship lead against defending champion and (fiercely rivalous team–mate) Fernando Alonso. As normal life does go on in our household, watching all of these sports is sometimes reduced to a single Sunday of replays, recordings, and channel–hops, devolving at times into a montage of blipverts. Rest assured though, the NFL underpinned it all (if you haven't guessed by now, this is predominantly a football column). And my conclusions from the first week of the NFL are... that it IS too early for conclusions. There weren't any wins and losses in strange places, merely points and margins that call for closer scrutiny by fantasy football fans. Take these notes and log them, but weeks 2–4 will give them context: – QBs answering doubters: Tony Romo had 5 TDs, Ben Roethlisberger and Eli Manning four apiece. – Contenders looking the part: New England and Indianapolis will keep this rivalry going for a year yet. – Predictable story lines: Tom Brady looked sharp, Rex Grossman stunk, Chad Pennington broke. Here's the 'context' games for week 2: Houston at Carolina: One of these middling teams could break out of the pack. It would have been a spicier sell if David Carr were the starter for Carolina, but with victories in week one and divisional opponents in week 3, this makes for a nice sandwich game. Somebody will go 2–0, and with troubled Atlanta in the sights of Carolina in week 3 and Houston in week 4, a win here will be worth a lot to momentum. San Diego at New England: If San Diego beat New England, they've already beaten two of the popular Superbowl picks – yuh, we heard that one already. But that would probably involve an excellent game from Philip Rivers and a major step forward from a receiving corps that has to establish more than Antonio Gates and LT out of the backfield, if it is to have the tools for playoff progress. Dallas at Miami: Wade Phillips didn't deliver on the idea that his more aggressive defense would work, but the Cowboys did put up 45 points last week (including 5 TDs from the QB who's warming my fantasy bench, dagnabbit!). Miami shouldn't provide an upset for the Cowboys, but the Dolphins defense may provide a down–to–earth moment for Dallas' offense, as well as a snack–worthy backfield for the Cowboys' blitz. |
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