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Wednesday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Santa's Sackings January 01, 2009 Ready for the Turkey November 27, 2008 Making it to the Big Dance November 26, 2008 Brighter Days Ahead for Chargers? November 5, 2008 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 USF: COVERING THE SPREAD While this weekend's TV highlight for many North American sports fans will be the NHL season opener between the LA Kings and the reigning Anaheim Ducks (NASN 5pm Saturday and Sunday), it does offer a treat for football fans who have Sky but don't subscribe to NASN. The subscription channel is having a 'freeview' weekend, meaning access to As-Live coverage of the Friday game between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the South Florida Bulls (shown 9am Saturday morning UK time). This one's worth catching. In a meeting of unbeaten and ranked teams, each gets to defend against variations on the spread offense that has been keying their wins and making stars of their quarterbacks. For West Virginia, Pat White, 617 yards passing and a 71% completion rate, 286 yards rushing, and 6 TDs each way. For South Florida, Matt Grothe, 652 yards passing and 4 TDs, 88 yards rushing. Neither has thrown an interception yet. Obviously, with RB Steve Slaton (502 yards, 9 TDs) alongside White, the Mountaineers enter the game as favorites, but this is a different sort of game from the ones when these teams get to unleash the unfamiliar spread on people (the way Appalachian State and Oregon did on Michigan). There are no cheap yards to be had in this one. And of course, this is a Big East conference game. While Rutgers (3-0) and the (apparently defenseless) Louisville entered the season as BCS Bowl contenders along with West Virginia, some people forgot the Bulls, who beat West Virginia at the end of last season, and lost to Rutgers by only two points. If West Virginia win Friday night, it'll be just another non-Saturday win to underwhelm poll voters and get lost in the Saturday results. But if South Florida wins, it could be the dawn of any age when the likes of Miami and Florida State have to get used to being Nos. 3 and 4 in the state of Florida. Fantastic Football For many coaches, this is the most anxious week of the football season. It requires special concentration and some difficult choices as all the work since the draft begins to take shape. Yes, it's the first bye week, and fantasy football coaches across the world will be shuffling back-ups into the line-up in the hope of making it through without some key player, or secretly hoping that a specific NFL starter suffers a short-lived but significant injury so that the backup (the one-week replacement on their own fantasy team) gets some start-quality numbers. Listen, if you're a fantasy football fan, be warned: I'm humoring you here. I joined a 'keeper league' last year against my better judgment just so I could bond with you guys (and gals) and get a taste of... well, whatever it is that's so addictive about it. So, I've got Carson Palmer as my starter and Tony Romo as my back-up (yeah I used two of my five keepers to hold onto that glorious investment), and my backs are Shaun Alexander and Jamal Lewis. I just had to have TJ Who's-ya-mama and... er, hey, where are the rest of you going? No really, this'll be interesting. Guys? Well at least my fellow fantasy fans will be interested in my team, won't you? Hello? Ah, whadda YOU know? You'll be laughing on the other side of your faces when my guys win the pretend Superbowl. |
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