Maddux Sports Blog

Wow, is this ever a terrible Monday night game. If someone paid me to come up with something nice to say about these teams or this game I would have to give the money back. With one exception - Steve Slaton has had a very good game, and that’s becoming a trend for him. The biggest problem is that we are getting exactly the same game that it looked like we would get. I just wish the league would do something about these terrible Monday night matchups - like cancel them.

The home team is cruising to an easy win tonight, but that was an exception this weekend. Ten of the 12 Sunday games were won by visitors - yet another bizarre anomaly of the kind that the NFL is so good at producing. The visitors were also very kind to bettors, going 9-2-1 ATS. It wasn’t like it was all road favorites, either - there were only four, and they were 2-1-1 ATS. That means that road dogs were 7-1 ATS. That’s really what makes the NFL so interesting - every week seems to have a very strong trend to it, but they are never the same, and it is almost impossible to determine what that trend will be in advance.

It was a bland Monday night in college basketball action. Only four Top 25 teams were in action, and none of them had to even show a pulse to come out ahead. The only real intrigue is USC - with 16 minutes left in the second half they are currently having far more trouble with San Francisco than they really should.

There are reports that Notre Dame might be biding their time until they can have a chance to talk to Urban Meyer and try to lure him back to South Bend. I have never heard anything more ridiculous or preposterous. The day Meyer leaves Florida for Notre Dame is the day I leave home to go be the coach in Gainesville.

First Brady Quinn goes out for the year with a finger injury. Now Derek Anderson is out for the year with an MCL injury. That leaves Ken Dorsey. Man, am I ever glad that I don’t care about the Browns.

There are now eight Big East teams in the Top 25 - the most ever for one conference. Man, is conference play ever going to be brilliant. January can’t come soon enough.

Stephon Marbury is banished from the Knicks. The sides can’t come to terms on a buyout. Please lord, just make this ridiculous drama end. It’s time like this that make me wish that I was a billionaire. That way I could just pay Marbury off so he would disappear.

A few things occupying my thoughts:

Monday Night Football is just a couple of hours away. I am torn in the game. The big thing that stops me from backing New Orleans enthusiastically is the loss of Sedrick Ellis. I have no idea what the impact of his absence will be, but I am very curious to find out. He’s really coming into his own, and he would have made it much harder for Minnesota to run. Since they can’t really pass, that would have been important. This isn’t going to be a classic game, but it is certainly an interesting one to consider. Talented but terribly flawed teams.

As I write this the Rays are running away from Chicago and look to be heading to the second round. I really can’t wait for their series against Boston. The home field will be huge for them, and I like their chances of going on. I wonder what kind of odds you could have gotten before the season started on a Rays-Dodgers series. Strange, but true.

I just read that Brian Westbrook has two broken ribs to go with his bum ankle. That’s a big blow for the Eagles. In my mind that puts them in the drivers seat to become the one NFC East team that doesn’t make the playoffs.

I laugh at Plaxico Burress. I’ve always thought he was a big baby, and that last game, with him out on suspension, sure didn’t do much to reinforce the myth of his irreplacability.

Rich Rodriguez ripped his Michigan offense for their inept play over the last three quarters, and the lack of desire they showed. Good job, Rich. That was embarrassing.

Mark Sanchez doesn’t have any structural damage in his knee. That’s good news. He’s sitting out of practice today and maybe longer, though, and he’s day-to-day for Saturday. I will be very interested to watch the line movement as things get closer to kickoff if his position is still unclear. As it is, a 25.5 point line against Arizona State seems pretty hefty. Think of how it would look with Mitch Mustain under center.