Ten Things in Sports That Boggle My Mind

1. 42% of people who answered ESPN SportsNation's poll question said they would vote Barry Bonds into the Hall of Fame. 49% for Roger Clemens, and 42% for Sammy Sosa. Are we a country of no morals? Do that many people honestly thing cheating should be rewarded?

2. The attention the Jets still receive despite being an awful football team is comical. But their demise is somewhat amusing.

3. The Los Angeles Lakers are ranked eighth in ESPN's weekly power rankings, despite being a measly 7-7. On paper they may be worthy of that ranking, but on the basketball court they shouldn't be in the top fifteen.

4. If Ndamukong Suh did in fact kick Matt Schaub in the cajones on purpose in front of everyone on national TV after what he did last year...

5. That Pittsburgh-Cleveland game yesterday.

6. I'll be one of five people watching the Eagles-Panthers Monday Night Football Game tonight. I still can't wrap my mind around what happened to my Birds. (I never did write Part 2 of my State of the Eagles post. It hurt too much.)

7. The fact that Florida isn't receiving any consideration to play for the BCS National Championship confuses me. They have a better case than both Alabama and Georgia, and if Notre Dame didn't get that lucky call against Pittsburgh, them, too.

8. The suits at the BCS actually think a four-team playoff is going to make matters better. Nope, the same controversy we have every year on who is going to play for the BCS National Championship is going to surround teams four, five, and six. Eight is clearly the way to go; that way no truly elite team will be removed from a shot at the championship.

9. How is this physically possible?

10. I can't believe Penn State coach Bill O'Brien dropped an F bomb on national TV after Saturday's game, as his program is trying to restore its image. Slip of the tongue for sure, but why did it have to be him?

Happy Thanksgiving! NFL Picks and More

Houston Texans vs. Detroit Lions

The Lions have lost their last eight Thanksgiving games. Well, it's about to be nine. It's not going to be the blowout everyone is projecting though. Sure, the Texans are 9-1, but they just escaped the pitiful Jaguars by a six point margin. The Lions, though vastly underachieving expectations thus far, are eons better than the Jags. And they're fighting for their playoff hopes, something the Texans have essentially locked up already. This game is going to be a barn burner, and the only way the Lions come out victorious is if Matt Stafford protects the football and connects with Megatron multiple times. Prediction: Texans 27, Lions 24


Washington Redskins vs. Dallas Cowboys

At just 5-5, the Cowboys sit just one game behind the Giants in the disappointing NFC East. They've beaten all the teams they should have (Tampa Bay, Carolina, Philly, Cleveland) and lost to the NFL's more impressive teams (Seattle, Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta). The Redskins fall into the first category. On Washington's side, Robert Griffin III is coming off a game in which he posted a perfect 158.3 QB rating, albeit against an Eagles D in shambles. Neither of these two teams have been impressive, but someone has to win. I'll go out on a limb and predict Washington on a game winning drive. Tony Romo will do his team in with one too many turnovers, nothing new. Prediction: Redskins 24, Cowboys 20

New England Patriots vs. New York Jets

I'm going to be watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving during this game. The Jets aren't even worth writing about. They're the only team you're going to hear about in all three games' pregame shows. And the Patriots are going to trash them. Prediction: Patriots 34, Jets 13

And in other NFL news: All this San Francisco QB controversy business may be true, but I'm of the opinion Jim Harbaugh is just claiming he's unsure of his starter so the Saints spend half of their walkthroughs preparing for Colin Kaepernick, when Alex Smith is going to be the one playing.

Changing gears to college basketball, here is the box score of the game in which Division III Grinnell College's Jack Taylor scored 138 points. Look up Grinnell's offensive philosophy if you want to know how this was possible. Basically, coach David Arseneault runs a system in which he expects his team to pop fifty threes a game, and he recruits almost entirely sharpshooting guards. But still, 138 points is 138 points.

For your enjoyment, if you haven't watched the entire version yet and have only seen the TV version, here is the full Uncle Drew Pepsi MAX commercial. There's a part two that features Kevin Love.

Have a happy Thanksgiving. Here's a suggestion: put chocolate chips in the pumpkin bread. Trust me.

Thoughts on the Current Day in Sports

I haven't been able to get on here often enough lately, so I'm just going to write a post on whatever crosses my mind. And I promise more frequent posts ahead.

1. That rookie QB Colin Kaepernick on the 49ers looks like the real deal, if only through the first quarter and a half I've seen him play. With him behind center they still appear to be Super Bowl contenders, as they are simply dissecting the Bears as of this moment. (My original Super Bowl pick was the Philadelphia Eagles. Uhh, yeah.)

2. Fantasy playoffs start soon! Hope you haven't lost all hope yet.

3. Not too excited about Rob Gronkowski going down. He was a cog on one of my fantasy teams. The Patriots will be okay though; as if they don't have enough weapons already, Gronk's fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez could return this week.

4. About that Marlins-Jays trade. I understand Jose Reyes was overpaid. But even as a Phillies supporter, in my mind it is simply disappointing for baseball. It also leads to large-market owners around the league questioning revenue sharing, with good reason. And it makes the AL East just that much more fun: with the exception of the Red Sox, everyone there is a contender. First time probably ever that could be said.

5. I'm still not much of a college football fan right now. It disgusts me for many reasons. But what's going to be a real pain is listening to the, for whatever reason, condescending Notre Dame fans brag about their team's first relevant squad since before I was born.

6. Georgetown's handing it to UCLA in college hoops. At the current rate, Georgetown's going to be the only Big East team left in the next few years. Heralded freshman Shabazz Muhammad came off the bench in his UCLA debut.

7. How the heck did the usually top-notch Houston Texans' D allow Chad Henne, of all people, to pass for 354 and 4 TDs? It didn't take more than a game for Henne to win the starting job over the woeful Blaine Gabbert in Jacksonville. The bust has eclipsed the other bust for a shot a redemption.

8. I wish Tim Tebow would just go play in NFL Europe or something so the media hops off his jockstrap. Actually they still wouldn't. And NFL Europe doesn't exist anymore, but oh well.

9. For those of you still wondering, hockey is still locked out.

10. David Beckham will play his last game for the L.A. Galaxy, the MLS Cup, on December 1. I know the MLS has its diehard fans, but of all the places he could've played as his career winds down, why did he pick the U.S.A.?

11. Woah. I don't care who they've beaten. The Charlotte Bobcats are 5-4.

Doomed

Under Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys have won three Super Bowls, with former coach Jimmy Johnson's players.

The bottom line is this: the Cowboys, America's Team, have been a model of mediocrity since 1995, the year they last won the Super Bowl. They have won two playoff games since then, and are 123-124 since 1997. Jones has executed poor trades (for Roy Williams and Pacman Jones) and unimpressive drafting (five players drafted in 2010 and 2011 remain on the roster).

The recent history, combined with the team's current 3-5 record, begs the question: Would Jones ever consider stepping down as general manager, a role he has in addition to his ownership of the franchise?

As much as Cowboys fans yearn for this to happen, the man in power delivered a resounding no.

"We are not structured that way. We didn't structure it that way with my ownership. There's no way that I would be involved here and not be the final decision-maker on something as important as players, and that is a key area. That's never been anybody's misunderstanding. It's been a debated thing, but it's just not going to happen."

It's somewhat comical how he uses the term "we".  Because it's not like there is anyone telling him what to do. While the current management situation is in place, there is no reason to believe postseason success is on the horizon, particularly because Tony Romo remains their starting quarterback.

Romo is another story in its entirety. His Cowboys epic is defined by his fumbled snap of a few years ago, and he's never escaped the reputation of crumbling in the clutch. The way the team is playing now, he won't even get the opportunity to do so again.

With Jones calling the shots, though, it can be all but assured Romo is the quarterback for the next several seasons. He'll put up a sparkly stat line (though those interceptions are piling up this year), but Jones will be left scratching his head at the conclusion of the season, wondering what the heck happened to all the players he handpicked. But Cowboys fans, it's okay: he's confident in his ability as GM.

"We've had success doing it this way and we're going to have success in the future doing it this way," Jones said.

Not sure many people share his vision.