Here we go (and remember the mailbag).
From the "Talks too much" studios, welcome to October.
NFL quarter turn
Four weeks into the NFL season, what do we know and what do we need to know?
The questions are high-arcing and filled with impact for a league that has finally got back to football after a cavalcade of off-the-field headlines that carried the NFL to the front of the nightly news rather than the front of SportsCenter.
So the these questions are about football. Let's go.
Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (5).We know that...
The Falcons defense is dreadful. (Teddy Bridgewater may be a good pro, but a rookie making his debut should never shred an NFL defense like Bridgewater did on Sunday. And it makes it doubly punishing since defense is head coach Mike Smith's background.)
The Saints are reeling. A trendy Super Bowl pick, the Saints are 1-3. Somewhere Darren Sproles smiles.
The Raiders are imploding. Another coach fired in less than two years. Wow. Who thinks that mode has a chance to work?
The Bengals are really good.
The Seahawks are the best team in football top to bottom and if they get homefield, good night.
The
We need to know...
Are the Dallas for real?
Are the New England Patriots done?
Someone has to win the NFC South, who will it be?
Are the San Francisco 49ers fixable?
Will Jake Locker ever stay healthy?
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Postseason baseball
With one incredible rally, the Kansas City Royals welcomed us into the postseason and reminded us how great win-or-go-home baseball can be.
Baseball tileLet's review: In the AL Wildcard match-up of little budgets that could, the Royals battled back from 2-0, 7-3 and 8-7 for a 9-8 win in 12 innings.
The names that came to the plate for the Royals were only identifiable by true seamheads and your buddies who are in fantasy baseball leagues that include AL teams.
Still, the Royals ran the bases - seven steals matches a postseason record - and they fed off a postseason crowd starved for success and desperate to believe.
In some ways, it had the feel of the early 1990s Braves, and it was fun and true and cool.
Thanks Royals. Good luck against the Angels and their $200 million payroll. We're pulling for you.
Tonight, the Giants visit the Pirates in the NL postseason game. C'mon Pirates.
Side note: Friday night could be an awesome Game 1 for the Cards-Dodgers as Adam Wainwright and Clayton Kershaw go at it. Good times. Wainwright is a stud, and Kershaw is authoring one of the all-time seasons in baseball history.
Side note, II: How great was this tweet from the Kansas City Police last night - "?@kcpolice 10h10 hours ago
We really need everyone to not commit crimes and drive safely right now. We'd like to hear the @Royals clinch this."
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Upset special
For most of September the college football matchups seems blah-tastic.
That changes this week, when no fewer than six games feature two ranked teams. Three of those games are in the SEC West.
We will get more into this tomorrow of course, but which of the three - Alabama at Ole Miss, Texas A&M at Miss. State and LSU at Auburn - offers the best chance at an upset in your view?
Discuss.
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This and that
The "Checker Neyland" movement came to life late last week, when Knoxville-based web developers Tim McLeod and Jonathan Briehl launched the web site checkerneyland.com.- More piling on after the fact about Tom Watson's captaincy of the US Ryder Cup team. Here's a story from Alan Shipnuck of SI painting Watson and the entire US process in an awful light.
- Braves hitting coach Greg Walker resigned Tuesday. In olden times, this was called Hari Kari, where Samurais fall on their own swords. Of course, if Walker held the proverbial sword like a bat, he would have missed twice and then popped up with runners on the corners and one out.
- Super UT fan Spencer Barnett from Cleveland is leading the Checker Board UT campaign. Here's Downtown Patrick Brown's report.
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Today's question(s)
Welcome to October. We have three questions for you:
1) What's the best sport month?
2) Looking back to 1985 - the last time the Royals were in the postseason - and trying to put it into context, that was the year Pete Rose broke the hit record. Ironically, today also is Mark McGwire's 51st birthday. Who gets in the Hall first - Peter Edward Rose or any of the steroid users?
3) What's your upset pick this weekend?
Discuss and remember the mailbag.