Specter Wastes Congress Time

Having begun the process for world peace, fixed the economy, thrown out all the crooked politicians, cured cancer, developed a fool proof method for voting and put aside funding to get the US debt in hand, Arlen Specter has turned his sights on the issues facing the NFL, specifically spygate.

"I am very concerned about the underlying facts on the taping, the reasons for the judgment on the limited penalties and, most of all, on the inexplicable destruction of the tapes," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in a Thursday letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Are you kidding me? This is what he's concerned about? After admitting he probably won't even watch the big game ("I may play squash while it's on"), Specter is putting the NFL anti-trust up for inspection over something that happened at the beginning of the season.

I know it's the only hold Congress has over the NFL (and MLB for that matter), but to bring up the big hammer for such a matter brings to mind the old sledge hammer to swat a fly anecdote.

Specter claims he made inquiries two months ago, but Goodell says he just became aware of Specter's interest on Thursday.

Really, Specter. Don't you have something better to do with your time?

Playoffs, Are You Talking About Playoffs?

Haven't the Patriots clinched a playoff spot? Too much math for my brain to deal with at the moment.
If the AFC Playoffs Began Today : Patriots Daily

1st seed - AFCE division leader New England Patriots (9-0). Last Sunday’s gutty comeback win over the reigning champion Colts gives the Pats undisputed possession of the AFC’s first seed this week. Little known fact - prior to Sunday, the Colts held this spot by virtue of the 4th tiebreaker; strength of victory.

That's surprising. If someone had come off the street and told me that last week, I wouldn't have believed them.

Pats Go Back to Sunday Night

Not that I have a problem with watching the Patriots at night, but is playing against Buffalo really that exciting?
Patriots' Nov. 18 trip to Buffalo moves to Sunday night - USATODAY.com

The league pushed back the start of New England's game at the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 18 to 8:15 p.m. ET and it will move from CBS to NBC. Originally, Patriots-Bills was set for 1 p.m. ET on CBS and Chicago at Seattle was the night game.

Today was Easy, Tomorrow Will Be Harder

Even as the Patriots and Red Sox celebrated their wins last night, I couldn't help think that next week will be harder. The Cowboys will be the first team to face the Patriots who will really be seen as a tough team to beat. Especially since the Boys will be at home. And whoever wins out in the Cleveland/Yankees series is bound to be tougher than the Angels turned out to be.

The Indians pitching (starting) can be scary, while the Yankees line-up makes it difficult to put them away. They will keep coming at you right up until the last out.

I do so hope it's the Yankees that win, btw. It would certainly make things a lot more interesting. It seems like a lot of people are burned out on the rivalry, but I think they will come back alive if the Yankees manage to come back to life.

However, the quick end to the Angels match-up means we have to wait until Friday for the next game. What are we supposed to do in the meantime, watch the Bruins?

Six Reasons You Should Watch The Patriots-Browns Game

Let's face it, the Patriots are romping on teams that people think are good and then stomping on the teams people think are bad this season. So, perhaps you're getting bored with all this romping and stomping and need some other inspiration for you to sit down and watch for three hours.

1. You have Moss or Brady on your fantasy team
2. Rodney Harrison will be back, which means the New England defense is about to get better
3. You want to keep in touch with how much the rest of the nation hates the Patriots
4. You want to feel better about benching all those players from the Browns you have on your fantasy team
5. Romeo could come up with some insight into the Belichick mindset, turning this into a real game
6. When the season is done, you want to look down on all those others who are 'just now jumping on the bandwagon.'

Have the Patriots Played Any Good Teams, Yet?

At this point, it's hard to know how good this Patriots team really is. With four games down, people are already talking about going undefeated for the season and I find that ludicrous to contemplate at this point in the season. I was always irritated by it when I saw the talk about the Colts start up in the past few years, so it really isn't surprising that I'm annoyed when it comes up with the Patriots.

We just don't know what the real mettle of this team is. Oh, there's no doubt this is a good to great team, but until they face an opponent that's shown they are also a good to great team, it's hard to judge where they are at.

I know the Chargers were supposed to be good, but it turns out they really aren't.

I know the Bengals are supposed to have a good offense, but a weak defense has kept them down. The Patriots obviously dominated them, which is a good indicator that they are in the 'haves' column, while the Bengals are not.

The Jets are nowhere, and so are the Bills. The Pats finished those games up almost as soon as they started.

The other limitation is we haven't really seen how they're going to be affected by injuries. I know Seymour and Harrison have been out, but that's nothing compared to how this team will look in Week 16 and 17. We know this, and yet we still try to predict a perfect season.

Don't misunderstand me, the Pats are obviously good to great (I lean towards great, but I tend to be biased). It's obvious at this point they will wrap up the division quickly. I'd even go so far as to say they are very likely to get home field advantage. But undefeated? Ask me again after the face the Cowboys or even better after the Colts game. It will still be early in the season, but at least we'll know they faced off against some other good to great teams.

Can It Get Any Better?

Last night's game saw:

• the return of Manny
• Manny got a hit
• J.D. Drew continued to do better
• Schilling pitched great (only 80 some odd pitches, too)
  
• Red Sox won
• Yankees lost (Magic Number is 3)
• Yankees have not clinched a spot, yet (I expect them to)
• Clemens is hurt

Why it's good to be a Boston fan overall right now:

• 38 is the magic number for the pats
• only 4 punts so far, for the season!
• Red Sox are in the playoffs
• Celtics are favored to win again
• Beckett is favored to win the Cy Young

Bruins? Never heard of them?