Ouch
Peter King, CNNSI
Tennessee Titans (1-0) at Cincinnati Bengals (0-1)
Pointed words from Marvin Lewis Thursday morning on Sirius NFL Radio, regarding the lousy passing game he saw in the opener ... and he was pointing at the marquee receivers, not the marquee quarterback. "They are two very proud guys who know they didn't help us in the opener,'' Lewis said of Chad Whatever His Name Is This Week and T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

Prediction: Tennessee Titans 20, Cincinnati Bengals 13

*****

Bengals fan song...done to Real Men of Genius
Thanks to listener Kevin and the guys who wrote and produced it in the last two days.

****

SEC leads the way in NFL
ESPN
But another indicator that the SEC plays the best football in the country can be traced to the 2008 NFL opening-day rosters. The SEC had more former players on NFL opening-day rosters (259) than any other conference this season. The ACC was second (254), followed by the Big Ten (227), the Pac-10 (178), the Big 12 (170) and Big East (87).

****

Show preview
Guests
Ivan Maisel, ESPN College football, 3:30
Pete Arbogast, voice of USC
Dan Clasgens, Fantasy Playbook, 4:30
Erin Rynning, handicapper, 5:45
Topics
Bengals: Is concern for Carson legit? I had an emailer indicate the media protects him more than his OL. Thoughts?
20 Most appropriate names for athletes
UC, OSU, UK

 

****

Sad to say, but Young's problems were predictable
Jason Whitlock, Fox Sports
I'm going to do my best to avoid turning this into an I-told-you-so column.
But the truth is, I told you before the 2006 draft that Vince Young was primed for NFL failure. He entered the league with an attitude, mindset and supporting cast totally unprepared to survive the pressure, challenge and responsibility that goes along with the most prestigious and difficult job in all of sports.
When I explained all of this in 2006, my naive and misguided critics called me an Uncle Tom. Yeah, they ripped me for attempting to issue a young black kid a warning about what awaited him in The League and the attitude he would need to cope and excel.

****

Wells now doubtful for Saturday
(AP)
Tressel said team officials would monitor Wells' condition before deciding whether to rule him out for the game in Los Angeles.

****

Bengals news
The Bengals today made the following practice squad moves:
* Signed TE Nate Lawrie (6-6, 255), a fourth-year player from Yale. Lawrie played in three Bengals games last year. He was with Cincinnati in the 2008 preseason, playing in all four games with five catches for 48 yards. He was released on Aug. 30. Prior to today's signing, he was on Baltimore's practice squad (Sept. 1-9).
* Released OT Dennis Roland. A first-year player from Georgia, Roland had signed to the practice squad on Sept. 3.

***

 

Style matters
Todd Jones, Columbus Dispatch
Ohio State and USC knew what they needed in a coach when they hired these two men, and it went beyond their ability to coach. Carroll and Tressel are products of their environments, reflect the spirit of their home states, and please the locals with more than just victories.

 

*****

"Fletch" writer dies
Fletch, published in 1974, was the first in a series of books about an investigative reporter named Irwin M Fletcher, who was later portrayed in the 1985 movie by actor Chevy Chase.
Movie clips from Fletch

*****

Former Bearcat recruit will play at BG
Toledo Blade
Danny McElroy, a 6-foot-8 senior from La Salle High, has committed to play basketball at BG, he confirmed yesterday. Following in the lead of Aiken's Darren Goodson and Hughes Center's Adrion Graves, McElroy becomes coach Louis Orr's third recruit from the Queen City.

****

"24": Exile
"24" returns with a prequel movie Nov. 23, to be followed by a full season of the thriller in January. Here's a clip from the prequel film, which is called "24: Exile" and was shot on location in Africa:

****

Must win for OSU
Yahoo
USC can lose and rebound. Ohio State can't. Unless it defeats USC, the Buckeyes have no chance of reaching a third consecutive national title game.

****

Losing is one thing, not trying is another
St Louis Post Dispatch
I don't understand how a team can prepare for months to play its first football game, only to emerge from the locker room looking like dead men walking.
No heart, no guts, no pulse ... nothing.

****

Congrats
This was the scene Wednesday afternoon as 1530 HOMER and Team Fitz Graphics presented the Team of the Week banner to the Milford Eagles.

The 1530 HOMER/Team Fitz Graphics HS Team Of The Week
Each week I take your email nominations.
Tell me why your team is deserving for the week.
Did they pull off an upset? Beat a rival? Tell me who they played, score, record, coach, etc.
I will accept email nominations until noon each Monday.
I will announce the winning team each Tuesday.
The chosen team will recieve a 4ft by 6ft 1530 HOMER/Team Fitz Graphics Team Of The Week banner for their lockerroom.
I will only accept emails sent to the address to the right, by my photo.

****

Is OSU's offense holding back?
Columbus Dispatch
The offense was so sluggish last week, the game plan so vanilla, that it seemed Ohio State was holding something back for Southern California.

*****

Ouch
Arizona Republic
0-6 on the roadtrip, the Diamondbacks have now lost 8 games in the standings in the last 13 days. The biggest mistake was made by Adam Dunn in right field in the third.
With the bases loaded, Dunn ran back on a Velez fly ball. Expecting it to hit off the wall, he turned around as if he was catching it - an attempt to fake out the baserunners.
But when he spun to play the carom, the ball bounced on the warning track. Had he continued back, he might have caught it. Instead, two runs scored.

*****

Ohio's NFL teams are a disaster in progress
Rob Oller, Columbus Dispatch
Traffic accidents attract attention, which means this NFL season is shaping up as a rubbernecker's paradise -- much to the delight of league officials -- because car wrecks are happening everywhere. Except in Cleveland and Cincinnati, where train wrecks are front and center.

****

Colts to cut starting DT after arrest
Indy Star
"He was repeatedly told this during the offseason,'' Polian said. "Along with his teammates, he was reminded as recently as (Tuesday) of coach Dungy's rules of behavior.
"Unfortunately, he chose to violate those rules. Given the circumstances surrounding Ed's original employment with the Colts . . . we have no choice but to take this action.''

****

Titans stuff

Haynesworth improves, but sits out practice
The Tennessean
"He's improving," Coach Jeff Fisher said. "We usually take a couple of extra days when you're dealing with mild concussion symptoms."

First time for everything
The Tennessean
Kerry Collins, 36, has never played against the Bengals. He's played against every other team at least once.
"You would think after 14 years and five teams that I would have played against everybody. I will now be complete," Collins said. "I'm just excited to be back out there. I now relish the opportunity to play because I don't get to play a lot. So I'm looking forward to playing and being a part of this.''

Young will have to win job back
The Tennessean
Coach Jeff Fisher said when Young is healthy he's going to have to show he's made progress on all fronts before resuming his duties as the starter. And that could be a while.

****

Big night for Brandon Larson
CENTRAL ISLIP , NY- Third baseman Brandon Larson slugged three home runs on Wednesday evening but it was not enough as the Long Island Ducks defeated the Somerset Patriots 7-5 in front of 5,904 fans at Citibank Park. The three homers gave him a new Patriots single season record for home runs with 29 and tied a team record for home runs in a game.

****

Wow!
Anyone stay up for Red Sox vs Rays last night?
Tampa wins 4-2 in 14 innings on a 3-run HR by Carlos Pena.
They won a series in Fenway for the first time since 1999.
They had been 1 for 35 in the series w/RISP before the Pena HR.
The Rays jumped their AL East lead to 2.5 games.
Boston had runners on 1st and 2nd in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th and did not score.
The strike zone of the home plate ump was a ridiculous as I've ever seen.

****

Brooks rips Cats after "wasted" practice
Lexington Herald Leader
"We're not getting a lot of leadership in practice, and that is very, very disturbing," Brooks said. "We've got a lot of guys talking the talk, but they're not walking the walk. I'm not very happy."

*****

Brain typing Carson
BrainTypes.com
This is the story I first linked four years ago....I have been asked about it enough to re-post it. I don't understand most of it. Some will call it mumbo jumbo. Others will call it psycho babble. I don't know. I posted the most interested comments.
**"We had Carson, Boller and Leftwich all rated right there," [Ravens' coach Brian] Billick says. "We were prepared to take any of the three with the 10th pick. They each have all the tools. Each had one little flaw. Kyle's was the accuracy. Leftwich was the mobility. With Carson, it was the leadership. He's not quite as dynamic a personality as the other two." **Tough-minded Billick hit the nail on the head and to him, CP's demeanor was a flaw. Had he and Marvin Lewis known Brain Typing prior to the 2003 draft, each would have looked at CP with deeper understanding.
**He's too good to be true-the perfect QB specimen with an attitude of Mother Teresa.
On the one side of the coin, he's perfect-mentally/attitude and physically. Unfortunately, there's another side to the coin. It's all about winning and being highly competent at your position. In this respect, there are some areas where Carson Palmer is not innately designed to perform as well as some other QBs (in mental, motor, and spatial skills).
**CP is not wired to pull rabbits out of hats at the end of games the way ESTPs are.
**"When Carson is relaxed and feeling good, his tools and game will be superb; he'll be able to make all the throws and plays; but if he allows pressure and nerves to overcome him, his BT should not operate as efficiently (in mental, motor, and spatial skills) as have the top QB Brain Types of the past few decades."
** What are the odds of Carson Palmer becoming an NFL superstar? Not good. What are the odds of CP playing some good NFL games? Very good.

*****

More looking back at Carson
DailyNews.com (July 2004)
Niednagel classifies Palmer's brain type as ISFJ -introverted, sensing, feeling and judging.
It is so rare among athletes that Niednagel has never seen it in an NFL quarterback.
``He's not a multi-task processor. He's not very good at juggling a lot of balls at once,'' Niednagel said. ``He's not the kind of guy who is going to come in and read a play on the board and know it. Reps are important.''
This might describe the Palmer many people saw during his first four years at USC, when he threw as many interceptions (39) as touchdown passes. In fact, Chow was so frustrated by Palmer's inability to grasp his offense that he seriously considered benching Palmer for then-redshirting freshman Matt Leinart when the Trojans began the 2001 season 2-5