The Suns put up a fight

After the news came down on Wednesday afternoon that the Suns traded Raja Bell and Boris Diaw for Jason Richardson, it would be easy for the Suns to have gone down easy to the Lakers on Wednesday. They only had 8 active players and just played a game on Tuesday night, it was a perfect setup for a blowout in L.A. But the Suns fought valiently, although they lost 115-110 to the now 18-3 Lakers. Amare had his 3rd straight good game, scoring 21 and grabbing 11 boards. Next up are the Magic on Friday, and who knows how many players the Suns will have by that time. My bet is they'll be down to 4 and Terry Porter will have to suit up and dish out some dimes.

The Yankees overpaid

It was announced on Wednesday that the Yankees signed pitcher/fat guy C.C. Sabathia to a 7-year/$161 million contract. Why the hell would you pay this guy that much? He had a good month, then got tired, then got pounded in the playoffs. It's amazing his fat ass could even make it through the negotiations without having a heart attack. I heard from a reliable source (myself) that his diet mainly consists of oreos and whatever else he can fit into his deep fryer.

TGISports weekend highlights

Mike Tomlin is a handsome devil - If there was an award for best dressed coach, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin (pictured above looking awesome) would have zero competition. The only question I would have is where can I buy that exact outfit and how many consecutive days can I wear it before I'd have to wash it.

The Suns actually beat a good team - In even more surprising news, Amare Stoudemire got off the phone with his agent long enough to grab some rebounds against the Jazz on Saturday (20 to be exact). Maybe this will calm the "Trade Amare" calls on talk radio for a day or two. Or, it will just increase his trade value, woo!

Ed Reed is ridiculous - how much would the Cardinals need to trade to get this guy? Like 4 first round pick? I'd give whatever they wanted, this guy is amazing.

The Orange Bowl is terrible...again - In a year where the other 4 BCS bowl games all look amazing, the Orange Bowl yet again has two teams that don't belong in a national spotlight. Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech may look okay on paper (they ARE the #12 and #19 teams in the country) but really, who gives a damn about this game besides people in Ohio and Virginia? Nobody, that's who. Throw Texas Tech and Boise St. in there and starting counting the Benjamins. You DO know it's all about those Benjis, right? By the way, the last three Orange Bowls are listed below, tell me if any of these sound exciting:

2006	Penn St. vs Florida St.
2007	Louisville vs Wake Forest
2008	Kansas vs Virginia Tech

Cardinals win their division, pigs proceed to fly

Yes, it's true. The "Same 'ole Cardinals" have won the NFC west and will host a playoff games (something that hasn't happened since 19-freakin'-47 (World War II ended in 1945 just to give some historical reference). The Cardinals played a pretty good game, with Warner's interception being the only negative all day. The defense (who have just dominated the NFC West) came up with 2 huge turnovers for touchdowns (DRC might just be my favorite player) and helped to cover for the offense's inability to stay on the field in the second half. Now all that the Cards have to worry about is which see they'll be in the playoffs, and a win next week over Minnesota (who can be up and down, especially on the road) would got a long way to securing at least a #3 seed (which would prevent them from playing the Giants until the NFC Championship game, if they are so lucky).

By the way, I'm having an epic battle with myself from not buying 20 of these and giving them to everyone I know.

Edge = Akon

Yep, both Cardinals running back Edgerrin James are "locked up." Akon in the literal sense, and Edge in the figurative. Apparently not starting is James' worst nightmare as he recently made these comments to AZCentral's Kent Somers:

James took advantage of the long weekend and went back home to Florida. A local paper caught up with him there. Edge told the paper he was anxious to leave the Cardinals. "I'm just waiting for my release....like an inmate."

Look man, I get that you're a competitor and want to play, but shut the hell up. Do you see Matt Leinart running his mouth about how he wants to leave and can't believe he lost his starting job? No, and he has just as much right (if not more) to be upset about losing his starter status. I know Tim Hightower hasn't been very good the last couple games, but it's hard to get much down when you're down 21-0 in the first quarter or only get 12 carries a game. I hope Scott Boras is making some calls because the SECOND the season is up, your ass is out of AZ.

The Giants are a mess but damn are they good

By now everyone has heard about New York Giants' wide receiver Plaxico Burress problems over the weekend (and by 'problems' I mean he wasn't able to stop from shooting himself in the thigh) but it was revealed today that Giants wide receiver Steve Smith was robbed at gunpoint this past Tuesday. My goodness, how can a team be in such disarray off the field, but continue to dominate on the field? The only way this could make sense is it it balances out some place else. Like,somewhere in the world there must be a team of devout Mormons in last place, or a charity that is under investigation by the FBI.

TGISports late weekend highlights

Football is #1 - Some great games again this weekend. Anybody who says that the NBA or MLB or NHL or NASCAR or anything else is better than the NFL should be brutally beaten (picture Adam Sandler after he said 'The price is wrong, bitch'). Almost every damn game comes down to the final minutes, and even the ones that don't are very entertaining.

Where can I get a James Harden jersey? - after losing to Baylor (thanks to a ridiculous barrage of 3's) early Saturday morning, ASU beat up on UTEP on Sunday, thanks mostly to James Harden's 40 points. I couldn't believe how high ASU was ranked to start the season, but after watching this guy play this season, it's hard not to like our chances against almost any team.

Plaxico is so damn dumb - How do you shoot yourself in the foot? I mean, even grade schoolers know not to point a gun toward your body. He must be the dumbest guy on the planet to shoot himself in the leg...wait, never mind.

The Giants are ok - It appears that the Giants might, just might, be the best team in football. Being without their top wide receiver, they again beat down a pretty good team on the road. If you know of anybody that can beat these guys, that'd be more more than I can name.

TGISports early weekend highlights

ASU's defense tore up UCLA - It's amazing that even though Arizona State's defense tied an NCAA record with 4 touchdowns, this game was still somewhat of a disappointment for the Devils. The offense could only muster 2 field goals all night, and one of them was set up by a 63-yard punt return. Right now Rudy Carpenter looks like the writers for Heroes: lost, confused, and waiting for the season to be over.

Boise state goes undefeated, nobody cares - For the 2nd time in 3 years, the Broncos are undefeated. When are they going to realize the BCS doesn't give a damn about them and start losing a few games? I mean, what's the point in beating Wichita State every year if no one is going to watch? I'm not providing a link here because, even if I did, no one would click it.

ASU Bball played late for some reason - Kudos to ESPN2 for covering this game, but why did it start at 12:45 ET? Did James Harden have a 36-hour Thanksgiving or something?

Dwayne Wade is the Suns' daddy - I bet Shawn Marion (pictured above being on a crappy team) was smiling after Wade laid 43 on the Suns on Friday night. The Heat (who lost by 38 to Portland on Wednesday, mind you) looked like Oklahoma to the Suns' Texas Tech.

Charles Barkley is right - “If I was LeBron James, I would shut the hell up,” the Hall of Famer said on Patrick’s show. “I’m a big LeBron fan. He’s a stud. You gotta give him his props. I’m getting so annoyed he’s talking about what he’s going to do in two years. I think it’s disrespectful to the game. I think it’s disrespectful to the Cavaliers.” (source Yahoo.com) Nothing more to add really, if Lebron loves NYC so much, just get the hell out of Cleveland right now and don't bother waiting till 2010.

Wow, go home and stay home, Cardinals

Guess who might be the worst team on the planet? Ding, ding, ding! It's the Arizona Cardinals!!! I'm writing this with 7:00 left in the 2nd quarter of the Cardinals-Eagles beatdown. I don't care if they come back and win, this team does not deserve to be in the playoffs. I am the biggest Cardinals fan you will find but I would gladly vote for an exception this year that lets another team take our division's playoff spot. Give me the petition, I'll sign it right now. I have a pen and everything and I even tested it to make sure it works.

The Cardinals better win every damn game they have left or they and their division will continue to be the laughingstock of the NFL and rightfully so. Learn to stop the run!!! Westbrook had 100 yards in the first half, he's not the f-ing Flash!

No picture because they don't deserve one.

Happy Black Friday.

The Shield is over

I know this is a sports blog, but I must pay my respects to one of the best shows on TV, The Shield. It ended Tuesday night and will go down in this blogger's eyes as the best drama he's ever seen and the character of Vic Mackey as maybe the best character of all time. If you haven't seen this show yet, do yourself a big favor and watch the pilot. If that doesn't hook you, I don't know what will.

Thank goodness the Thunder suck

Otherwise, the Suns would have lost by 30. I kind of feel bad for the Thunder, seeing as they beat the Suns like a drum for 40 minutes on Tuesday, yet still found a way to lose. It's amazing that the Suns even stayed in the game the way they played, especially without Shaq down the stretch. Sideshow Bob (pictured above) filled in as best he could for the big man, scoring 11 points and snagging 5 boards. Next up are the Timberwolves, a team the Suns love to lose to even though they are probably worse than ASU.

Also, I don't know what it is about Chris Wilcox, but he insists on having his best game of the season every time he plays us. It's probably because he was picked ahead of Amare, yet is nowhere near the player he is. Or because he's always played on teams like the Clippers and the Thunder, who have about as much chance of winning a title as I do. I know, I know, I'm a damn good baller, but I just don't have the hops.

TGISports weekend highlights

The NFC West refuses to win! - In a show of pride, none of the teams in the NFC West broke their pact of losing this week. The Rams were the MVPs of the week, losing by an impressive 24 points to the below-average Bears. What will next week bring? Several more losses, I'm sure.

Oklahoma stops the Red Raaaaaaiders - I'm not going to lie, I watched about 8 seconds of this game. I saw it was 21-0 in the 2nd quarter and wished Texas Tech a good season, 'cause they aren't going to the National Championship, and probably not even a BCS game. Sorry, Red Raiders, you picked a horrible time to lose.

Ed Reed is my favorite player - It seems like everytime Ed Reed gets an interception, theres about a 90% chance its going for a touchdown. He got a big one on Sunday, and took it 108 goddamn yards to the house. NFL.com says my jersey of him I just ordered should arrive by Thursday, woo!

The Suns beat Portland yet again - If only the Suns could get the NBA to change their schedule to 82 games against the Trailblazers, they'd be in good shape.

Kevin Kolb is a beast! - In a move that worked out great for them, the Eagles elected to bench Donovan McNabb on Sunday, leaving the reigns to Houston University standout Kevin Kolb. What did Kolb do you ask? Oh nothing, unless you consider 10-23 for 73 yards and 2 ints nothing. You do? Oh, well then he did nothing.

Giants take down the Cardinals

There's not a lot to say about this game, the better team won and that is that. The Giants showed why they are being called the best team in the league, beating a good Cardinals team at home without their number one running back or wide receiver. It will be tough for any team to go to the Meadowlands in the playoffs and beat this team in January.

Now that I'm done being diplomatic, its time to rip Matt Ware, Ralph Brown and the entire kickoff coverage team. How many times can you give up 50+ yard returns or negate your own return with an offside penalty or an illegal block in the back? The Giants started five, count 'em five, drives in Cardinals territory. And with the efficient and solid offense the Giants have, that is enough to lose you the game. Also, when did Ralph Brown have his hands surgically-replaced with frying pans? Or maybe that ball just hit him in a weird spot, like in his hands or chest. C'mon man, those gloves you wear are basically mittens with glue all over them, you should be able to catch a ball with your eyes closed.

Suns take a beating

What a shock, the Suns lost to another quality opponent. The Lakers blew them out in the 2nd half when the Suns had answers for exactly zero of their players. And how did I know that Vladimir "I'm a douche" Radmonovic would break out of his slump against the Suns, to the tune of knocking down 4 straight 3-pointers (all of which killed the Suns). If the Suns want to be taken seriously this year they have to actually beat someone, and not just pound the East like they have the past few years.

Are you kidding me? Energy Solutions Arena?

I know I'm a day late on getting to the Suns-Jazz debacle from Monday, but I must talk about the Jazz's arena's name. Its Energy Solutions Arena for God's sake. I understand naming sporting venues after companies, but if your company has the most generic name ever, maybe stick to commercials. I have an idea for a stadium name, how about "Going to Dinner Stadium" or "I just sat down Arena".

TGISports Weekend Highlights

Arizona State has a winning streak! - Actually, are you allowed to call it a winning streak if the two teams you beat have a combined 1 win? Yes? I refuse to believe that, I prefer to call it a non-losing streak. Or a nonlostreak.

U of A loses, I LOL - After getting a worse pounding than General Motors in the first half, U of A closed a 45-17 gap to 48-45, the Wildcats faded and are now firmly slotted in the 4th or lower spot in the Pac-10. Maybe next year they'll manage to actually get into a decent bowl. Hahahaha, just joking, they'll always stink.

Nothing happened in college football - Did any team that was favored lose? No? Okay then, next story.

The Eagles totally kissed their sister - Look, if you're going to tie a team, at least make a good team. Tieing with Cinicinnati is the equivalent to losing to most teams, if not all of them. Lets hope for a repeat performance against the Cardinals in a couple weeks.

Cardinals sneak away from Seattle with a win

In what was yet another heart-attack-inducing game, the Cardinals left Seattle with a 26-20 win and a magic number of 2 to win the division. Looking at the stats you'd think the Cardinals won by a wide margin, but of course they didn't, they kept it close and tried their best to give it up. The Seahawks' offense was horrible, yet still scored 3 touchdowns (all on drives of less than 20 yards). It was yet another example of how the Cardinals have a lot of learning to do when it comes to closing out games, as they let Seattle and their ugly fans turn a 26-7 blowout into a close game.

That being said, it was really hard to find things to complain about after the Cardinals went into a hostile road environment and came away with an impressive victory. Kurt Warner had another ridiculous game, throwing for over 250 yards in the first half alone. Boldin and Fitzgerald each had over 150 yards receiving, and the Seahawks had no more success covering them that I would. The secondary played decent (especially my new favorite player Dominic Rodgers-Cromartie, or "DRC" as cool people like me call him) and the linebackers did a great job of stuffing the run.

This win sets up a great matchup next week in Glendale against the Giants who had yet another very impressive win on Sunday, piling up over 200 yards on the Ravens. It would be an amazing win for the Cardinals, who I actually give a shot to only because they are at home. If this game was in the Meadowlands, I'd look for a schellacking similar to the Jets game.

Suns put the boots to Detroit

The Suns had their most impressive victory of the young season on Sunday, beating the Detroit Pistons 104-86 in downtown Phoenix. The Suns played their most complete game of the season as well, outplaying Detroit on offense and defense. Even the bench got in on the action, with players like Boris Diaw, Louis Amundson and even Sean Singletary (no, not the 49er's head coach) getting in on the action. I'm not sure what it was that propelled the Suns to such a great game; maybe it was Terry Porter's desire to beat the team that scorned him in the off-season, maybe it was Grant Hill's desire to beat his former team for the first time, or maybe it was just Shaq's (pictured above right before he ate Ken Mauer) desire to beat the crap out of Kwame Brown and Rasheed Wallace (which he did until he was ejected for nearly decapitating Rodney Stuckey). Let's hope the Suns can keep up the stellar play as they enter a very difficult week in which they face Utah, the Lakers and Portland.

Cardinals enter crucial stretch

After pulling out the win on Monday night, the Cardinals now have a very important stretch of 3 games coming up. They go to Seattle, at home against the Giants and at Philly on Thanksgiving. The Cards could lose all 3 very easily and be right back at .500. Although they still may win the division if this happens, they sure as heck will not be in a good position come playoff time.

It may be unlikely, but the Cardinals have a shot at getting a first round bye after moving to 6-3. Only the Giants and Panthers have better records than them so it is conceivable they could move ahead of one of them and have a week off come playoff time. At the very least the Cardinals will host a playoff game if they win the division (which hasn't happened since like 1904 or something). If the Cards can win at least one of these games they will be in good shape for the rest of their schedule, which includes home games against the Rams, Vikings and Seahawks.

No sports were played on Tuesday

Apparently Tuesday was "Let's give everyone the day off work and then have no sports on TV" day and I wasn't informed. No Suns, No NBA, No NFL, not even any decent College football. And yes I did see Ball State playing, but it's Ball State, nobody actually gives a damn about them. The only people that watched that game were either alumni of the school or 12 year-olds who LOL when they hear the world "ball".

By the way, the above photo is what came up when I typed in "Sad sports" in Google image search. I think it fits well.

Suns escape Grizzlies, move to 6-2

The Suns followed up their 3-1 road trip with a 107-102 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday. OJ Mayo had a great game, scoring 33 points (before his big birthday bash over at Suede or Mist or one of those one-word clubs in Scottsdale). The Suns did struggle with the Grizzlies, but showed that they are still a great team by winning on a night they probably shouldn't have. Leandro Barbosa scored 27 points of the bench and basically saved the Suns in the 4th quarter, who couldn't hold on to the ball to save their life. Even Boris Diaw, who's usually very sure-handed had a couple turnovers. Maybe if he pretended the ball was a stupid haircut he would have fought harder to keep it.

Lincecum gets the Cy Young

It was announced today that Tim Lincecum won the NL Cy Young award today, getting 23 of 32 first place votes. He beat out 2006 Cy Young winner Brandon Webb, probably because of the way Webb faded in August and part of September, while Lincecum was dominating people. Oh well, the D'backs just got one more reason to feel bad about themselves after the awful collapse they had in the '08 season.

The Cardinals BARELY won

Thank the good lord that the Cardinals came away with the victory on Monday night, beating the 49ers 29-24 in one of the best games of the season. If the Cardinals didn't win I would really have no point in living, if only for the reason that I'd have to see Mike Singletary's ugly face for about 8 straight hours on ESPN. Did anyone else notice how he apparently transformed into a supermodel, because the damn camera loved him on Monday. When the Niners got the ball to the 2 yard line with 50 seconds left I was dreading seeing his face if they got a touchdown to go ahead. I knew that image would be burned into my retina for the rest of my life and ESPN would be thanking their lucky stars they get to show his press conference (which I'm sure would have gone on for like 12 hours). Next up: next Sunday at Seattle. A game the Cardinals should win, but probably won't.

P.S. I just thought of the headline ESPN.com would have had if they 49ers won. Five bucks it would have been "Singletary Vision". Ten bucks says my lunch would have been on my keyboard after that as well.

TGISports Weekend Highlights

Adrian Peterson wore a condom - I'm not sure if he ran out of du-rags or just wanted to stretch this one out for later, but he might want to reconsider his choice of head wear. Although I'd wear that too if it would help me rush for 192 yards.

The NFC West is still really bad - The Seahawks and Rams lost AGAIN on Sunday, dropping them both to 2-7 on the season. A Cardinals win against the 49ers could very well seal this division, but I'm sure it won't and the Cardinals will find some way to lose some games and make it interesting (i.e. at Seattle, home vs. the Giants and at Philly).

ASU lost agai....wait no they didn't! - In a shocking move, the Arizona State Sun Devils managed to pull off a victory against the vaunted Washington Huskies. The Huskie, despite their 0-9 record and them being the worst team to ever step on a football field, held the lead for much of the game against the Devils. Next up: powerhouse Washington State (1-9).

The Lakers are 5-0 - Who is going to beat these guys? If they don't go 70-12 this season is a disappointment in my eyes.

Steelers beat Redskins, Obama is gonna win

The Steelers physically dominated the Redskins on Monday, beating them 23-6. But that isn't the real story; if tradition stays true (and it has 17 straight times), than the Redskins loss before election day means the party not holding the presidency will win the upcoming election. If you do the math, that means the People's Champion Barack Obama is about to become our 43rd president. It's a pretty interesting stat, almost as interesting as the stat that says every time the Lions lose, the next day in the week will be Monday. Take THAT, Lions fans.

Actually, I apologize for that last joke, it was terrible.

Cardinals crush Rams 34-13

The Cardinals got a rare road win on Sunday, defeating the Rams in St. Louis. It was a great win for the Cards, who scored 24 points in the second quarter and basically stepped on the Rams' throats in the final few minutes of the half.

It was an important win for Arizona, but I couldn't help but think how many un-Cardinals-like plays that happened throughout the game. Normally they are the ones with all calls going against them and all the karma being on the other team's sideline. Some of the aforementioned plays were:

1. Jerheme "I spell my name with an H for no reason" Urban's 56 yard touchdown pass that should have been an interception (normally that would be picked off and taken to the house by the other team)
2. Tim Hightower's 100 yard game (when is the last time THAT happened?)
3. Antrel Rolle's (pictured above) interception for a touchdown (normally its our QB who throws a duck to the other team)
4. The fact that the referees called two plays wrong, both in the Cardinals favor (although both were challenged and overturned. It's still a minor win.)

Next up is San Francisco on Monday freakin' night. The Cards lucked out getting a game in the national spotlight, let's hope they don't let the Niners off the hook, like they did the last time they played someone on a Monday.

TGISports weekend highlights

Lubbock, TX FTW - Everyone's darling the Texas Longhorns lost on Saturday to Texas Tech or Texas A&M or Texas Christian or one of those other Texas teams. Now it looks like we are on pace to get Alabama against Penn St in the National Championship game. I can hardly contain myself. I think I'd rather have a root canal than watched that 6-3 wretch of a game.

The Suns are 2-1 - The Suns looked good on Saturday night when they beat the Portland Trailblazers for the 10th straight time. Boris Diaw had a decent game, scoring nine points (and grabbed Martell Webster's junk as well, pictured above). It's amazing how some teams just have other teams number, kind of like how every team in California has ASU's number. Speaking of ASU...

Another loss, what a shock- After losing 27-25 to Oregon State on Saturday, the Sun Devils are now 2-6 and must win every game from here on out (Wash, Wash St, UCLA, Arizona) to even be bowl eligible. The team is so bad at this point it doesn't even matter if they somehow make it to a bowl they'll just get blown out by Tennessee State or Louisiana Tech.

The Seahawks are so bad - After losing 26-7 to the Eagles on Sunday, the Seahawks may be the worst team in the NFL. It's down to the Lions and them right now, and the Lions actually put up a fight on the road against the Bears, so they may have inched ahead of the 'Hawks.

Suns lose home opener

During the second part of their back-to-back to open the season, the Phoenix Suns lost 108-95 to the New Orleans Hornets on Thursday night. This comes as really no surprise to this fan, as the Suns have not beaten the Hornets since Chris Paul (pictured above after smelling Raja's Bells rampant BO) donned that turquoise jersey. The Suns' bench (yes, they have a bench now!) did make a run in the 4th quarter, closing the lead to 83-80, but the Hornets then unleashed a flurry of 3 pointers, pushing the lead to 12 and never looking back. It was great to see coach Terry Porter have some faith in his bench (even if it means falling behind by a few points) and not immediately react by bringing back his starters (coughD'antonicough).

Rays fans are unlucky

How unlucky do you have to be to get hit in the dome with a vodka bottle? I mean, all you want to do is climb around on a traffic light and some jerk bounces a Smirnoff bottle off your dome? How fair is that? It'd be like if I was robbing a bank and they tried to arrest me or something. I mean, Who do those "police" think they are?



Thanks to Yankeez for the video.

Suns start season off with a win

It appears that Terry Porter is already had a positive effect on the Suns, what with them beating the Spurs 103-98 on Wednesday night. He already has one more win against a good team than D'antoni did last year (I think his record against Western playoff teams was like 0-138). The real story from this game is Greg Popovich and his ridiculous Hack-a-Shaq'ing. At least O'neal was 5 for 8 from the line during the game, possibly giving Popovich something to think about in the future. I will give him credit though, the foul five seconds into the game was pretty funny. Almost as funny as Pop's awful beard he thinks he can pull off. You have to be a real man to pull that look off, like Leonidis from 300, or me.

P.S. It took me HOURS to find a picture of Tim Duncan complaining, they are more rare than a damn unicorn.

Phillies win world series

Thank the good lord I am able to stop talking about baseball for four months. Yay, the Phillies won, their pour city hasn't had a championship in 20 years. Cry me a river. At least now you are free to keep cheering when hall of famers end their career and booing anyone and everyone who doesn't perform every single night of their life.

Guess which sport is awful?

I turned on the Lakers-Blazers game last night and within the first 30 SECONDS I see Derek Fisher (pictured above being a douchebag) flying across the court like he was just shot out of a cannon, and Blazers center Gred Oden was called for a foul. This is the antithesis of why the NBA is now my 3rd favorite sport and could fall behind MMA very quickly. There are so many ridiculous, cheap tactics that some players use to get an advantage, and the referees are still falling for them. Speaking of the referees, they're awful. They only give calls to teams who complain or are supposed to win (see the Spurs and Lakers). Yes, I am a bitter Suns fan who is very biased because of their inability to win a championship. But this is getting re-goddamn-diculous and I'll be damned if I watch a single game outside the Suns games this year.

Oh my gawd, Eli sabotaged the Giants!

In news that is spreading like wildfire, Eli Manning supposedly sabotaged his own team this past Sunday night against the Steelers. Apparently Manning mouthed the name of the play to the sidelines before a crucial 4th and goal and someone on the Steelers' defense read his lips and knew the play. Why this is such big news is beyond me. I saw it on ESPN.com last night and thought it was interesting, but today (two days late, mind you) it is the cover story on Yahoo.com. Apparently their isn't enough real news out there to cover so they have to rely on sports stories like this. If they wanted sports news, how about how the freaking World Series may never end, or how about that real news story we call the election. Yah, that's only a week away, maybe run some filler on that instead.

TGISports weekend highlights

The NFC West is still awful - If the Seahawks and 49ers hadn't played each other, every team in the NFC West would have lost again this past Sunday. When I saw Seattle/San Francisco on the schedule I assumed it would end a tie or somehow both teams would lose. In case anyone thought this division was on the rise after the Rams won 2 straight and the Cardinals were 4-2, simply look to Sunday's scoreboard.

The Phillies are up 3-1 - Apparently the theme of this post season will go down as "Underdogs FTW". Has one favorite actually won a series? Maybe the Red Sox, but they promptly folded, just like Patrick Cote's knee (sorry!)

ESPN loves horse racing - How many times must I hear about the stupid Breeder's Cup? It's not one of the big three races and Big Brown isn't in it, so why are you still covering it? I'm sure there is another meaningless Big 10 game you'd love to air instead.

Penn St. beat Ohio St. - Because I despise Ohio St. more than pretty much any other institution in America (Europe is a whole other ball of wax), it was great to see Penn St. and Joe Pa take down the Buckeyes. I just feel sorry for anyone in attendance for that horribly boring game. 3-3 at halftime? C'mon.

Cardinals lose, drop to 4-3

Even with the refs help, the Panthers were only able to win 27-23 against the road-weary Cardinals. Coupled with the 49ers loss in New England, West Coast teams are now 0-11 playing games on the East Coast.

As far as the game went, the Cardinals played a great first half and a great first possession in the second half, but it went downhill and downhill fast after that. After going down 17-3, the Panthers scored about two minutes later and then again about 30 seconds after that (thanks to Warner's lone interception). It was in classic Cardinals fashion as they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and couldn't stop the Panthers on their final possession, culminating by allowing Carolina to convert a 3rd and 11 with a freaking draw play. Next up is the Rams in St. Louis, a road game the Cardinals are actually capable of winning. Whether they do it remains to be seen, but as Lloyd Christmas said "So, you're telling me there's a chance."

Great, Amare dislocates finger

In the preseason game against the Thunder on Thursday, Suns forward Amare Stoudemire dislocated his pinkie finger and left the game in the third corner. Thankfully, the damn preseason is over so there shouldn't be anymore chances for Suns players to get hurt before the regular season. The Suns are going to need all the luck they can get to compete in the brutal Western Conference this year, and this is not a good sign of things to come.

Cowboys get Roy Williams, lose everything else

The Dallas Cowboys traded for WR Roy Williams on Tuesday, and it's a good thing. In fact, it's the only good thing going on in Dallas right now. In the past 72 hours, they have lost a game, their QB for a month, their trouble-magnet cornerback, their safety (Ken Hamlin), and 3 draft picks. I'm betting there aren't too many people walking around with Terrell Owens right now, seeing as the team is on the brink of implosion.

Speaking of Roy Williams, apparently the Cowboys think his arms are made of gold because they traded a 1st, 3rd and 6th round pick for him. Whoever negotiated that for them should be fired then shipped to Cambodia. I heard their next move is offering Marcus Spears and Marion Barber for punter Jeff Feagles.

Here comes an awful World Series!

After both the Ray and Phillies have taken a 3-1 series lead, it looks more and more likely that they will meet in the World Series. You know who won't be meeting in the world series? ANYONE ELSE. A Phillies-Rays World Series would do disastrous numbers in the ratings. Nobody outside of Philly wants to see that matchup (I'm not including Tampa Bay because lets face it, the Rays have no real fans). And don't say you want the underdog to win. Yes, its fun in theory, but when you have to watch seven games of it, it gets boring real quick. Kind of like watching an airshow. It sounds cool, but when you go to it, you instantly want to leave.

TGISports weekend highlights!

The NFL is awesome - If you needed any more convincing that the NFL is the best sport out there, look no further than Sunday's games. The Falcons, Rams (pictured above humiliating the Redskins), Texans, Vikings and Cardinals all won on last second plays. At one point I saw the Falcons kick a game winning field goal and the Rams do the same within literally 30 seconds. If there is a more entertaining sport, I haven't heard of it.

Top 5 teams falling like flies - Saturday was home to a plethora of great matchups in college football, and they didn't disappoint. Oklahoma, LSU and Missouri all lost (albeit to ranked teams) and the top 25 polls had quite a shakeup, with Texas coming out on top (for now).

The Lions are hilarious - In case you haven't seen the video yet (conveniently linked in the title), make sure to block out a few hours before you do because the laughing that will ensue afterward will be unstoppable.

Guess who stinks, the NFC West - I know, I feel like a renegade claiming the NFC West, of all divisions, is not up to par. I'm on an island out here, like that guy from The Cay. I even have the sweet beard for it.

What a shock: ASU loses again

I'm starting to debate on whether to even report on the Sun Devils anymore. I mean, it's not even news when the Devils lose now, it's just so damn commonplace. Anyways, the Sun Devils lost 28-0 to the USC Trojans on Saturday, a game which surprised no one. ASU has scored 24 points in their last three games combined and really just looks bad. I'm glad they didn't get a touchdown at the end of the game, either, as that would have cheapened the beating they took on Saturday. At no point did ANYONE think ASU would win, and they didn't dissapoint. ASU faces Oregon in two weeks and there is no reason why they shouldn't be 30 point underdogs. The only thing more shocking than an ASU win over Oregon would be the Lions NOT making an embarrasing play every week (please see above post).

By the way, that picture is of the USC punter upending an ASU player. Ya, the PUNTER.

The Suns played outdoors

The Suns and Nuggets played the first outdoor game in the NBA since 1972 on Saturday, and boy was it boring. The Nuggets won 77-72 in a defensive struggle. The game was pretty uneventful, but the setting was amazing. It was held at a tennis court in California and I wish I would have bought tickets. What could be better than an NBA game outdoors? Ya, it was a bit cool (65 degrees) but what more can you ask for? A cool breeze and Shaq dunking on Linas Kleiza. Sounds like a good night to me.

Cardinals beat Cowboys, now 4-2

I'm taking a brief break from doing mule kicks and punching the air to write about the Cardinals amazing 30-24 overtime victory over the Cowboys. From start to finish, this may have been the craziest game of the NFL season. I mean, the game started with a kickoff returned for a touchdown, for goodness sake. And how many fumbles were there today, like 20? I think Romo spreads butter on his hands before every snap just to spice things up a little bit.

Of course, the Cardinals could not make it easy on themselves, blowing a 10 point lead in the final 4 minutes, capping it off by calling a timeout after the kicker missed a 52 yard field goal, giving him a chance to nail it about 30 seconds later. As soon as the Cowboys won the toss, I think every Cardinals fan thought the game was over. But the '08 Cardinals proved (for now) that they aren't like many of the Cardinals teams of past and came up with a huge 3 and out, and blocking the hell out of the punt to win it. What a game.

P.S. Anquan Boldin didn't play. Take THAT, bandwagon Dallas fans.

Boldin out against Cowboys

It was confirmed on Friday that Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin will miss the game against the Cowboys on Sunday. This is probably best for Boldin (pictured above pouting after receiving the news) who will now have three full weeks off (with next week's bye) after being mangled by suspended Jets cornerback Eric Smith.

In further Cardinals news, safety Adrian Wilson was fined $25,000 for the hit he put on Bills quarterback Trent Edwards last Sunday. Is it me or does Wilson have the worst luck with fines and penalties? The hit he put on Edwards, which was brutal, was clean. He did not dip his head and (unfortunately for the Bills) got a clear shot at the quarterback. The only thing more unfortunate for the Bills is the fact that when they get off the plane and realize they have to live in awful Buffalo.

Arizona football teams are in the spotlight

In a change of pace, ESPN has decided to cover Arizona Sports the past week. Why you ask? No, it's not because of the Cardinals or Sun Devils stellar play. Oh, no. It's the teams they're playing against. Yep, if the Cards weren't playing the Cowboys and Arizona State wasn't playing USC we would never hear about them. Phew, I thought ESPN had actually turned a corner. But no, they're still just obsessed with teams like USC, Notre Dame, the Cowboys, the Lakers, the Yankees and the Red Sox. Thank goodness, I was worried for a minute, I'm not sure how to act in a market that is actually relevant in the sports world. I'd have to buy a hat with a feather in it or something, or maybe just walk around with a boa constrictor on my neck.

Suns start preseason 1-1

The Terry Porter era has started for the Phoenix Suns, and it hasn't been too bad. The Suns are 1-1 in their first two preseason games, both of which did not feature Amare Stoudemire or Leandro Barbosa. Shaq has looked surprisingly agile in the first two games, scoring 20 points in the Suns first game.

It will definitely be interesting to see how the Suns adapt to the new system, but if you think they are going to win the west, you are crazy. The Western Conference is so ridiculously stacked this year that the Suns may be lucky to even make the playoffs. Furthermore, Steve Nash (pictured above headbutting a Hawks player into the third row) is on a downward slant, and has been the Suns' MVP the past four years. It is disappointing that the Suns weren't able to capture a championship during the D'antoni era, but at least we get to crack jokes about Robin Lopez's awful haircut.

Former Cardinal gets 4 game suspension

Former Cardinals player and current Bengals Linebacker Darryl Blackstock was suspended for four games on Tuesday, after testing positive for performance-enhancing supplements. They almost never say what supplements they were, but I hope it was something cool, like Snake Testosterone or Sex Panther. You have to make sure it's made of real bits of panther though, that way you know it's good.

By the way this is just fitting for the Bengals. A guy plays three years with another team, signs with the Bengals THEN gets suspended. It's like a match made in Heaven.

Red Sox, Rays advance

The NLCS and ALCS are not both set as the Red Sox and Rays finished off their respective series on Monday night. Now we are privileged to get 7 MORE games of these two teams playing each other, I guess the 19 times during the regular season wasn't enough. Seriously, it's like watching the Cavs and Wizards, they play each other like 45 times a year it seems.

By the way, I chose a picture of the Rays because this will be the last chance I'm going to have to post a picture of them celebrating. Yah, I said it, Red Sox in 5. And as much as I hate saying it, being a D'backs fan, its going to be a Manny/Sawx reunion up in Boston.

TGISports Weekend Highlights

Dodgers sweep Cubs - Way to show everyone how to waste a great regular season, Cubbies. You're like the MLB-equivalent to the Suns.

Phillies finish off Brewers - At least now that donut-pounding C.C. Sabathia can stop his diet and start crushing Krispe Kreme by the dozen.

Seattle got pounded - The Seahawks managed to look even worse than the Cardinals did in New York, losing 44-6 to the Giants. The only way the game could have gone worse is if some more of their remaining wide receivers got injured (like Deion Branch, for example). Oh wait, nevermind.

The Redskins are hot like fire - After beating the Cowboys last week in Dallas, the Redskins followed that up by beating the Eagles in Philly. Who would have thought the janitor they hired last year actually knew some football?

How did this happen?

In complete contrast to the Sun Devils, the Arizona Cardinals dominated the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, winning 41-17. They beat the Bills in every facet of the game, and blew the game open in the second half. Kurt Warner led the Cards to touchdowns on their first three drives, the complete opposite of last week's game in New York. After nothing went right for them against the Jets, everything did against the Bills. Their QB was knocked out, they fumbled the ball, and committed stupid penalties. Next week the Cards face the Cowboys, in what could be a pretty interesting game. The game is at home so at least the Cardinals have a puncher's chance of staying in the game with Dallas.

Kimbo FTL

Kimbo Slice was defeated in 14 seconds by last minute replacement Seth Petruzelli on Saturday night. The 6'2" brute was pummeled from the very beginning and had no chance to recover before the fight was called. The highlight of the night actually came during the post-fight interviews when Kimbo showed no remorse for his loss and simply told everyone where the after party was (and let me tell you, it was awesome). Props to both the guys for taking this fight on very short notice (Ken Shamrock somehow got injured the night of the fight). Hopefully EliteXC will have a chance to get another show or two before it inevitably goes under, this one was pretty decent.

Boldin out for Buffalo game

After fracturing his sinus against the Jets, Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin will be out for Sunday's game against the Bills. Boldin underwent surgery to repair his sinus and could be out for the Cowboys game as well (Oct. 12). It probably is a good idea to not even worry about him coming back until after the bye week, seeing as he is one of the most important players on the team. The Cards will get beat mercilessly by the Cowboys with him in there anyway, so he might as well take that game off.

The Cardinals are favored for no reason

On a whim, I just checked the line for the Cardinals game on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, and for some unknown reason are favored by a point. The Cardinals have beat two horrible teams and lost two games against mediocre teams on the road (including giving up 1,000 touchdowns to Brett Favre....wait, 1001 now, he just threw another). The Bills, on the other hand, gave a 34-10 pounding to Seattle in week 1 and also won IN Jacksonville. I would never bet against the Cardinals, but if they win against the Bills it will be just about as big an upset as the 'Skins beating Dallas last week.

MLB postseason isn't bad

Dodgers beat those stupid Cubs - all I can say to Cubs fans is hahahaha. You stink and you're not gonna win a championship for another year.

Red Sox comeback on Angels - The LA Angels (I refuse to type their full name) had been 64-15 when scoring first during the season. Well, now its 64-16 after the Red Sox came back and beat them 4-1 on Wednesday. That makes 10 straight in the postseason for the 'Sox over the Angels. The only rivalry more lopsided than this is the ASU UofA football rivalry. Dis!

Phillies go up 1-0 on the Brewers - Despite having one of the best offenses in the majors, the Brewers could only manage one run in a 3-1 loss to Cole Hamels and the Phillies. What an exciting game, 8 total hits. I had a root canal the other day that was more exciting.