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NFL General

Bidding for Bush

By Alex Fitzsimmons, email [email protected]

It doesn’t have playoff implications. It’s not Marino vs. Montana. In fact, this game is about as meaningful as the NHL. But it’s the game I’ll be watching Week 17.

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MLB General

"Flipping the switch"

By Alex Fitzsimmons, email [email protected]

It’s the worst feeling in the world. The kind of feeling you get when you step in an airplane and breathe in a whiff of unfiltered gook mixed with dead skin and a glut of infectious bacteria. Whether you dominate for 8 2/3 innings or get smacked around for 1 1/3, it doesn’t matter–you feel helpless, vulnerable.

With two on and two out in the top of the fifth inning, Wednesday, St. Louis Cardinals skipper Tony Larussa trotted out to the pitcher’s mound, lifted his finger, signaled to the bullpen, and sent starter Mark Mulder down the lonely, shameful walk to the clubhouse.

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Chicago White Sox

Nitty-gritty fundamentals

I didn’t think they could do it.

I bet you didn’t think they could do it.

But they did it.

What the Chicago White Sox pulled off is unfathomable, to say the least.

 But, you know what, they did it.

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Cincinnati Bengals

Healthy trash talk

He’s cocky.

He’s got swagger–a lot of swagger.

He’s conceited.

He emanates an air of boastfulness.

He’s also a darn good football player.

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MLB General

Taking the reigns

“All great things come to an end,” however clichéd and unoriginal it may sound, it’s true. Even in baseball: players age, teams rebuild–it’s an inevitable cycle.

While high-market clubs like the Yankees and Red Sox may have more flare and sizzle than lowlier, modest clubs like the A’s, it’s teams like the A’s who avoid lengthy, piteous rebuilding stages because they consistently maintain a nucleus of young talent and don’t spend frivolous dollars on over-the-hill, washed up veterans.

It comes down to promoting from within–maintaining a zealous, fervent farm system of young guys who are committed to winning. The teams that do that will never be out of contention.

The following clubs will be talked about long after the Yankees and Red Sox recede into mediocrity.

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NFL General

I feel a Brees coming on

By Alex Fitzsimmons, email [email protected]

It was only two years ago when Drew Brees was stinking up the field, throwing more interceptions that touchdowns, on his way to the 4th worst passer rating in the league. But it seems like a millennia ago.

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MLB General

The Beane irony

I wonder how Billy Beane will feel when he’s watching the MLB playoffs at home, with his Oakland A’s floundering to the deep, cold, piteous cellar of the AL West, after he single-handedly abolished any chance of his team making the playoffs when he traded away two of his most electrifying starters, thus entrusting his reputation with the less-than-proven likes of Rich Harden and Danny Haren.

Probably humiliated.

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NFL General

Smith better choice than Rodgers

By Alex Fitzsimmons, email [email protected]

His fire burns deeply inside the soul of his body, like molten rock burning fathoms beneath the earth’s surface.

His fire is the undivided and exclusive passion for the game that few ever attain. His name is Alex Smith.

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New England Patriots

Patriots’ recipe for success

If there was any doubt that the New England Patriots are the best team in football, last Sundays domination of the Steelers erased any of it.

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NFL General

Greatness falls at hands of true legend

It’s implausible to imagine the player who broke the most coveted record in football being remembered as the guy that couldn’t win the big game. Peyton Manning bears that ugly scar. After shattering Dan Marino’s single season touchdown passing record, throwing for 49 TD passes, Manning’s legacy was almost guaranteed to be that of one of the greatest signal callers ever. That is, until last Sunday, when in three repugnant hours of chaos and confusion, it all melted away.