Random Observations...

❡ Mark Brunell completed 22 straight passes today, setting an NFL record. FOX showed the stat on screen after the 22nd pass, and, of course, Brunell threw two imcompletions immediately afterwards. Nice job, FOX Sports. Point of tangency: Clinton Portis finished with 164 combined yards and 2 TDs, but on the long shuffle pass and a pitch inside the 5 (in which he got to the outside but was tripped up at the 1), he did not look as fast as usual. Maybe he's just not up to full game speed yet. Maybe he's still playing at 80%. Maybe it's hard to get excited to play the Texans. I'm not sure which one it is.



❡ Uually in Columbia, either the Chiefs or the Rams are playing at 1 pm. Not today. The Chiefs had a bye week, and the Rams are playing at 4. It's very strange to be in a sports bar where the loudest folks are Packers or Bengals fans.



❡ Did anyone notice that Miami and Tennesse were playing today? I was in a bar with no less than 35 TVs, and there wasn't a single one tuned to that game.



❡I'm still not sure why FOX has their pregame show on the road. I don't know anyone -- not even here in Columbia -- who loves Joe Buck so much that he/she'd tune in just for him. FOX should just move the show back to L.A. and let Curt Menefee host. And please, can we get one guy to host the show and to provide the in-game updates? This Buck-Menefee-Chris Rose trifecta just isn't working.



❡I still get a good laugh out of hearing the words, 'Now let's show you the Arizona Cardinals defense.'



❡ A funny sequence in the Rams-Cardinals game: Matt Turk's punt dies at the 1 yard line, followed by a shot of Turk raising his hands towards the sky, followed by the announcer saying, 'Give all the praise there to...', followed by a fleeting moment in which I thought the announcer was going to commend Jesus, followed by the disappointing words ...'Tye Hill, corner out of Clemson.'



❡ Is there a worse feeling than waking up late Sunday and realizing that you haven't changed your fantasy team, and then watching as T.J. Houshmanzadeh and Nate Burleson combine for 3 TDs as they sit on your bench?



❡ Mizzou is in the top 25. Colorado is next week. I'm trying not to get too excited, but.... Tigers!



❡ Speaking of which, why'd Maryland drop out of the 'Also Receiving Votes' category in both polls? What, that 14-10 win over Florida International wasn't impressive enough for the voters?

That's Senators Baseball

Two great finds by District of Baseball today:



❡Check out this headline from the CBS affiliate in Green Bay.



❡And Ken Wright of The Washington Times, after watching a mediocre performance from Brewers pitcher Tomo Okha, says:

The Nationals traded Ohka to the Brewers last season in exchange for second baseman Junior Spivey, who played a little more than a month for Washington before he broke his right forearm in a freak batting cage accident at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park. The Nationals opted not to re-sign Spivey after last season and he spent all of this season in the minors at Class AAA Memphis, a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate.



So the jury's still out on which team received the better end of the trade.

Hold up there, Ken. Tomo Okha went 7-6 last year with a 4.23 ERA after being traded to the Brewers. Meanwhile, Junior Spivey had 77 ABs with the Nationals. He hit .221/.330/.390 with 2 home runs, 7 RBIs and 26 strikeouts. He played in only 28 games.



And if I remember correctly, the Nationals had so few pitchers last year that Hector Carrasco had to come out of the pen to start games. Ryan Drese became a starter. Livo kept pitching through knee injuries. Frank Robinson said over and over again that he would kill for starting pitching.



So in what crooked legal system is the jury still out on the starting pitcher-for-second baseman who played in 28 games trade?

That's Senators Baseball

Two great finds by District of Baseball today:



❡Check out this headline from the CBS affiliate in Green Bay.



❡And Ken Wright of The Washington Times, after watching a mediocre performance from Brewers pitcher Tomo Okha, says:

The Nationals traded Ohka to the Brewers last season in exchange for second baseman Junior Spivey, who played a little more than a month for Washington before he broke his right forearm in a freak batting cage accident at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park. The Nationals opted not to re-sign Spivey after last season and he spent all of this season in the minors at Class AAA Memphis, a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate.



So the jury's still out on which team received the better end of the trade.

Hold up there, Ken. Tomo Okha went 7-6 last year with a 4.23 ERA after being traded to the Brewers. Meanwhile, Junior Spivey had 77 ABs with the Nationals. He hit .221/.330/.390 with 2 home runs, 7 RBIs and 26 strikeouts. He played in only 28 games.



And if I remember correctly, the Nationals had so few pitchers last year that Hector Carrasco had to come out of the pen to start games. Ryan Drese became a starter. Livo kept pitching through knee injuries. Frank Robinson said over and over again that he would kill for starting pitching.



So in what crooked legal system is the jury still out on the starting pitcher-for-second baseman who played in 28 games trade?

MVP Reporting

Breaking news used to be reserved for major international news, stock market chaos, and crises of intergalactic consequence. But ever since spell check started accepting ESPNEWS as a legitimate word, the sports world has started clamoring for its own news scoops.



Point in case: the release of the NBA's regular season awards. Two weeks back, the headline on most webpages was 'Report: Nash to Win Second Straight MVP.' Yesterday, it was 'Report: Wallace Wins 4th Defensive Title.' Today, it was 'Report: Paul to be Named NBA's Top Rookie.'



All I want to know is, since when did the NBA start leaking the names of their regular season award winners? All of the other professional sports leagues can keep their awards under wraps, but apparently the NBA has to leak their awards to the press. And when did regular season awards become such a big deal? They're not handing out a Heisman or the Stanley Cup here.



I don't want to see more of these leaked breaking news reports about regular season awards, ESPNEWS. Ditto for all you .com's. The awards are nice, but there's no reason for ESPN to break into the second reairing of last night's 'Baseball Tonight' to tell me who the NBA's six man of the year is.

MVP Reporting

Breaking news used to be reserved for major international news, stock market chaos, and crises of intergalactic consequence. But ever since spell check started accepting ESPNEWS as a legitimate word, the sports world has started clamoring for its own news scoops.



Point in case: the release of the NBA's regular season awards. Two weeks back, the headline on most webpages was 'Report: Nash to Win Second Straight MVP.' Yesterday, it was 'Report: Wallace Wins 4th Defensive Title.' Today, it was 'Report: Paul to be Named NBA's Top Rookie.'



All I want to know is, since when did the NBA start leaking the names of their regular season award winners? All of the other professional sports leagues can keep their awards under wraps, but apparently the NBA has to leak their awards to the press. And when did regular season awards become such a big deal? They're not handing out a Heisman or the Stanley Cup here.



I don't want to see more of these leaked breaking news reports about regular season awards, ESPNEWS. Ditto for all you .com's. The awards are nice, but there's no reason for ESPN to break into the second reairing of last night's 'Baseball Tonight' to tell me who the NBA's six man of the year is.

Late Night Thoughts

So I was waiting to see Mike Metzger jump over the fountains at Caesar's Palace tonight in between pitches of the Cards-Astros game, and I must say, I was expecting to see ESPN broadcast this guy's death live.



The Worldwide Leader prepped the audience with a shot of some dope on a dirt bike who crashed at approximately 150 mph into a brick wall trying to do this jump twenty years ago. Then they flash an on-screen graphic that says Metzer is trying to become the second person to ever land this jump -- and the first to ever attempt a backflip over the fountain. Then they show a closeup of Metzger, who apparently couldn't resist the urge to get a giant tattoo on his neck in college. Then they show the ramps for the jump. The two ramps are 110 feet apart, and Metzger's going to take off at a 43 degree angle. No safety net; no padding. The guy is just wearing a helmet.



There's no doubt in my mind at this point that, best case scenario, Metzger will end up in a coma.



After a ridiculous amount of pre-jump hype -- in which viewers discovered that Evel Knievel is still alive and that Suzy Kolber has shoulders -- Metzger gets ready to jump. He takes two practice runs down the tiny runway, then spins around, and fires off towards impending doom on his dirtbike. ESPN cuts to the wideshot as Metzger does the flip and lands it with ease. Replays show that the jump was so easy, Metzger had time to put the brakes on his back wheel to keep it from overrotating.



He couldn't have made it look any difficult. So much for ESPN hyping the event as 'The Impossible Jump.'



One more note: Stephen Colbert (50,000 people have thanked him here already; have you?) had Rick Reilly on the 'Report' tonight. Colbert had the line of the night, calling Bonds 'the giant head in the room.' Reilly had his chances to take shots at Bonds, which he loves to do. Overall, good stuff.

Late Night Thoughts

So I was waiting to see Mike Metzger jump over the fountains at Caesar's Palace tonight in between pitches of the Cards-Astros game, and I must say, I was expecting to see ESPN broadcast this guy's death live.



The Worldwide Leader prepped the audience with a shot of some dope on a dirt bike who crashed at approximately 150 mph into a brick wall trying to do this jump twenty years ago. Then they flash an on-screen graphic that says Metzer is trying to become the second person to ever land this jump -- and the first to ever attempt a backflip over the fountain. Then they show a closeup of Metzger, who apparently couldn't resist the urge to get a giant tattoo on his neck in college. Then they show the ramps for the jump. The two ramps are 110 feet apart, and Metzger's going to take off at a 43 degree angle. No safety net; no padding. The guy is just wearing a helmet.



There's no doubt in my mind at this point that, best case scenario, Metzger will end up in a coma.



After a ridiculous amount of pre-jump hype -- in which viewers discovered that Evel Knievel is still alive and that Suzy Kolber has shoulders -- Metzger gets ready to jump. He takes two practice runs down the tiny runway, then spins around, and fires off towards impending doom on his dirtbike. ESPN cuts to the wideshot as Metzger does the flip and lands it with ease. Replays show that the jump was so easy, Metzger had time to put the brakes on his back wheel to keep it from overrotating.



He couldn't have made it look any difficult. So much for ESPN hyping the event as 'The Impossible Jump.'



One more note: Stephen Colbert (50,000 people have thanked him here already; have you?) had Rick Reilly on the 'Report' tonight. Colbert had the line of the night, calling Bonds 'the giant head in the room.' Reilly had his chances to take shots at Bonds, which he loves to do. Overall, good stuff.