What I will say is while I love the pair of lamps, silicone tipped tongs and slotted spatula, and $1.99 cutting boards, I would never ever attempt to assemble some of the larger furniture pieces the store offers. Walking into the store, you notice all the people backing their SUVs up to the Returns/Exchanges department, a look of defeat on their face, as they haul the flat box that was supposed to be that trendy-looking armoire back to its home.

___________________

Good for San Diego, bad for football

I watched the end of the San Diego/Indianapolis playoff game this weekend from an elliptical machine at the gym, in front of a guy on a treadmill, rooting rather loudly for the San Diego Chargers as the game neared its finish. I suspect that this guy had no particular alliance with either team and wasn’t rooting for either team but rather rooting against the Colts, presumably because they were the favorite in the game. I felt like shaking that man and making him realize what the Colts losing meant. What it meant was that one of only TWO games that we will get to watch next week will feature a Chargers team that lost to the Patriots by 24 points earlier this season. In contrast, the Colts lost to the Patriots by a mere four points, in a close contrast that was the highest-rated Sunday afternoon game since at least 1987.  I would suggest getting a good movie to watch before Sunday’s Giants/Packers NFC Championship game/Brett Favre lovefest at 4:30. This thing is going to get ugly early. I’ll take the Patriots by 65 points.

____________________

Shut up, Philip Rivers

Did anyone see the Chargers quarterback jaw-jacking with Colts fans at the end of Sunday’s game? I am tired of this kid. Shut up and play. What I’ll say about Rivers is that he has done an awful lot of talking and fist pumping for a guy with 21 TDs to 15 INTs on the year and not to mention.. HE DIDN’T EVEN FINISH THE GAME! If you had nothing to do with the outcome of a game, which he didn’t give credit where it’s due, in this case to Billy Volek, you can’t be trash talking to anyone. I’m tired of Philip Rivers. The dude has been to a single Pro Bowl and is lucky to be playing on a team with LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates.

________________

T.O. Cries

That’s all…

________________

Toshiba’s Hail Mary 

Word in the tech world this morning is that Toshiba is slashing prices on its HD-DVD players. The players, one of which I happen to own, will now range in price from $150 to $300. This is all fine and good but what Toshiba doesn’t seem to realize is that the problem isn’t the cost of the players. The problem was never the cost of the players. They are losing the format war agains Blu-Ray because studios have aligned themselves with the Sony’s technology and signed exclusive deals. What this means for consumers is that sure, they will have a top of the line HD-DVD player but they won’t have any High Definition content to play on it. I think it’s very unfortunate that this has played out the way it has for consumers. Consumers are the real losers here because instead of allowing the market to play out and consumers decide which technology they prefer, the studios have decided it for us by signing this exclusivity deals with Blu Ray or HD - DVD (much more so the former than the latter). My hope is that the two sides can make some sort of agreement that will allow the Blu Ray discs to be formatted to play on the HD DVD players or else a lot of consumers will be out a lot of money.

Bob Knight may have shot a couple more people. I generally think Bob Knight is a complete moron so it’s not all that surprising to hear that a man claimed Knight or his hunting partner shot at him intention after the man yelled at the pair for hunting too close to his house. Knight denies it.

Comcast sent a cease and desist letter to NFL Network for urging customers to switch from the cable service.

Can the Kindle help the newspaper industry?

Warner Brother’s viral marketing for the new Batman flick has kicked into high gear?

The fake Gordon Ramsay blog is hilariously funny.

Top Chef season 1 contestant Dave Martin has opened a new restaurant in New York.

The Colts new $11.4 million scoreboard in Lucas Oil Stadium is amazing.

Peyton Manning really likes throwing to Antonio Cromartie

Only problem with that is Cromartie isn’t really on his team. The ever-mopey MVP threw three, count ‘em, three picks to the second-year corner out of Florida State in Sunday’s loss on the road to the Chargers. I would think after a while you would stop throwing in someone’s direction after they’ve picked you off twice but Peyton was courteous enough to give Cromartie the trifecta on way to throwing six interceptions. I know that it never entered Colts head coach Tony Dungy’s mind to pull the struggling quarterback but he should have. Am I surprised that he didn’t? No. But it would have been Dungy’s chance to show that no matter who you are or how many companies and products you shill for, if you don’t perform, you don’t play. Make this two weeks in a row that Manning and the Colts offense has blown big conference games.

You may want to wait before buying those Saints playoff tickets

The Saints dropped a bad home game yesterday against the formerly win-less Rams after putting together a nice little streak and putting themselves back in playoff contention. Given that the Saints play in what is arguably the weakest division in football, I think , barring any further collapses, they are still going to the playoffs but it’s important to remember that prior to their four-game winning streak, they started the season 0-4. You have to wonder if a loss to a bad team like the Rams will send the formerly terrible Saints into a shame spiral and out of the playoff race. Time will tell. Their schedule the rest of the way is pretty mild and none of the games they still have on tap jump out at you as being potential landmines.

Donovan McNabb may be headed to Minnesota

The latest trade rumor has Donovan McNabb headed to Minnesota after this year to re-unite with former Eagles offensive coordinator Brad Childress. I’ve gotta say this rumor smacks of irony to me. He would be leaving a team with a great running back, a decent offensive line and no receivers to go to a team with a great running back, a decent (if not overpaid) offensive line and no receivers. Are are Troy Williamson and Sidney Rice that much of an upgrade over Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown? I think that no matter where McNabb goes (unless it’s New England), his best years are behind him.

Ron Zook is the national coach of the year

As it turns out, Gator fans, Ron Zook can actually coach. Forget about Jim Leavitt or Mark Mangino, no one has done a better job this year than Ron Zook. Zook took a team that was 2-10 last year and made them nationally relevant this weekend, knocking off top-ranked Ohio State on the road to get their 8th win of the year. If Zook can continue to pull big time recruits like Arrelious Benn and recruit well in the Chicago area, Illinois could become a real force to be reckoned with.

It’s 1994 all over again in Bloomington

The last time Indiana was bowl eligible it was 1994, they went 6-5 and didn’t get invited to a bowl. Well boys and girls, welcome to 1994. I’ll be rocking my Zubaz pants and my #2 Charlotte Hornets Larry Johnson jersey and listening to Meatloaf and Ace of Base. Indiana, barring a miraculous win at home next week against Purdue, isn’t going to a bowl this year. Saturday just wasn’t a banner day for the Hoosier football team. Not only did they give away a game that would have given them seven wins and a virtual bowl guarantee, they gave Northwestern their sixth win of the season, and Iowa and Michigan State all became bowl eligible as well. I’m going to go sulk and listen to Gin Blossoms.

Sylvester Croom will have a job next year

The Fighting Crooms of Mississippi State have put together a nice little resume this year, on their way to become bowl eligible for the first time since people were spazzing out about Y2K. After upending #22-ranked Alabama this weekend, Croom has seemingly changed the football culture in Starkville. The Bulldogs, who play excellent defense and the worst offense imaginable, have knocked off Auburn, Kentucky and now the Saban-led Crimson Tide and have a chance at seven wins when they play Ole Miss next week in the Egg Bowl. Well done, coach.

With all due respect to Vic Carruci of NFL.com, a great sportswriter who I grew up reading in the Buffalo News, he’s out of his mind.

Pittsburgh is for real.

In an article today on NFL.com, Carruci writes that he is unmoved by Pittsburgh’s complete dismantling of Baltimore on Monday night and is not willing to include the 6-2 Steelers among the league’s elite. And I think he’s nuts.

For me, it wasn’t that the Steelers obliterated the Ravens, it was how they did it. For me a perfect encapsulation of the personality of this team was when Hines Ward went right at Ed Reed, arguably one of the league’s best defensive players and de-cleated him. This team isn’t afraid of anyone. Not New England. Not Indianapolis. Not anyone.

An offense that is coming together nicely is paired with the league’s best defense. Check the books. 1st in points allowed, 1st in yards allowed, 1st in passing yards allowed and fourth best in the league against the rush. If Ben Roethlisberger can string together games like the one he had Monday night, a game where, irrespective of the touchdowns he threw, he played within himself and was accurate, this team is going to be very scary come playoff time.

Mark it down. If the Steelers have to travel to the RCA Dome in January to play the Colts. They will beat them. Soundly.

It was the Colts’ offense, not their defense, that was the team’s weak point yesterday.

Having lived in Indiana for some length of time, I know that criticizing Peyton Manning is somewhat blasphemous but someone has to. Make no mistake, it was Manning and the Colts offense’s inability to convert points in the red zone in the first quarter of the mega-game against New England that led to their ultimate demise. Word to the wise for future Patriot opponents: If you get within scoring distance three times in the first quarter, put the ball in the end zone.

And then there’s Manning inability to perform under pressure — again. The fumble-turned-interception that put the nail in the Colts’ coffin was evidence of my belief that the eldest Manning quarterback is one of the league’s worst performers under pressure and almost always shrinks when it counts and when the game is on the line. The last quarterback in the world I want to see trotting onto the field with two minutes to go and my team down four is Peyton Manning because in his career, which has been great, he has never delivered in those moments. For the record, you may be wondering who the first quarterback I would want to see in the huddle on that final drive? That would be the quarterback who stood on the opposite sideline Sunday, Tom Brady. Manning has never had a marquee, Elway-Montana or even Brady-like moment that you point to and go, “Wow, that was really clutch.” He’s a fairweather quarterback and simply, a fairweather leader. Remember when Mike Vanderjagt, who is an absolute dope, criticized Manning and Dungy for lacking fire? I didn’t think then and still don’t think that was an invalid criticism, in spite of the ridiculous source of said criticism. Did you see Manning bouncing his helmet-clad skull into those of his lineman yesterday in the huddle? I rest my case.

All of that being said, I will be happy to never heard the phrase “Super Bowl 41 1/2″ uttered again ever and the importance of the outcome of this game is wildly overstated by the media and fans but I think the players and coaches have put the final score in its proper perspective. Tom Brady said the game “didn’t matter,” appropriately noting that it was in January when the winners and losers of a game is of any significant import. If the Colts won the game and got homefield advantage, it wouldn’t exclude them from potentially losing to the Patriots in the playoffs and vice versa for the Pats. It was an entertaining game that showed us, if nothing else, that the Patriots offense is as diverse as advertised and the Colts defense has come an incredibly long way in a year and may, in the future, be one of the league’s best.

The league’s best two running backs are Joseph Addai and Adrian Peterson

And I’m not just basing that on yesterday’s performance, where Adrian Peterson ran for a jaw-dropping 296 yards on his way to slicing, dicing and downright humiliating the Chargers defense, I’m basing that on facts. Peterson is a shoe-in to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and had it not been for Tom Brady’s soon-to-be-record-breaking-season, he would be a realistic candidate for MVP. Never have I seen a player’s college game translate so literally into an NFL career but Peterson is running and playing exactly the way he did at Oklahoma. Of course, Peterson has a penchant for big debuts, if you’ll remember his rookie year at Oklahoma where he was a Heisman finalist. If he can stay healthy, Peterson may be one for the ages.

And then there’s Addai, who is one of the most consistent and steady running backs in the league. I’m not sure there is a player who sees the field better and makes sharper cuts than the second year man out of LSU. He catches balls out of the back field and he’s a threat to break it everytime he gets his hands on the ball. While his greatness may be lost in an offense that includes Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison and Dallas Clark, don’t get it twisted, getting Addai 20-30 touches a game is integral to this offense being effective.

Ohio State is really good.. no, seriously…

I’ve been down this road before with Jim Tressel’s Buckeyes and I’m hesitant to believe in this team after last year’s stomping at Florida, a stomping that I boldly predicted in our paper wouldn’t happen. In the words of the epic 80s hair metal band Great White I’m “once bitten, twice shy.” But this team is apparently for real after routing a pretty good Wisconsin team this weekend. I’m not convinced that this effective but underwhelming team has the metal to take it into the Big House and pull out a win against archrival Michigan but they’re really good. Quarterback Todd Boeckman is the second-coming of Craig Krenzel and Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline are becoming two viable big-time scoring threats and Beanie Wells is one of the most punishing and quick running backs in the country. After seeing them pound Wisconsin in convincing fashion, I think I’m ready to believe.

Oregon is the second best team in America

One of the nation’s three remaining unbeaten teams solidified their place in the National Championship this weekend — for now. After beating USC soundly last weekend, the Ducks got ready and beat a previously unbeaten —and head-scratching fourth-ranked — Arizona State team. Dennis Dixon is the Heisman trophy frontrunner, Jonathan Stewart is one heck of a running back and their defense isn’t too bad either. Sorry LSU but you can’t be ranked higher than an unbeaten team who plays in a conference that is equally as tough as your own. I would love to see an Oregon/Ohio State national championship game. James Laurinaitis, Marcus Freeman and Malcolm Jenkins against Dennis Dixon, Jonathan Stewart and the explosive Oregon offense. That’s a game I would love to watch.

Darren McFadden isn’t out of the Heisman race just yet

Just when pre-season Heisman shoe-in Darren McFadden had become a distant memory, the Razorback junior goes out and rushes for 323 yards. For my money, I still think Knowshon Moreno is the best running back in the SEC but McFadden is almost a lock to be taken in the top 5 in next year’s NFL draft and for good reason — he’s simply filthy.

The Hoosiers are bowl eligibile

Finally. Six wins. It’s tough not to get emotional when I think about my alma mater finally going to a bowl game after all these years but it seems a fitting accomplishment for this team, this year. Make no mistake, this is a tribute to Coach Hep, who lost his battle with brain cancer this summer and made a fanbase and a team of underachievers believe that we could go where we hadn’t gone in more than a decade. While their win Saturday doesn’t guarantee a trip to Tampa or Orlando or San Antonio or Tempe, it gets the Hoosiers one step closer to Hep’s dream of playing 13.

But it didn’t take long before the Saints knew why the Colts were considered the greatest offense of the last decade. One quick strike to Marvin Harrison, who has the uncanny ability to make the extraordinary look routine like no other receiver in the history of the NFL and the Saints new they were in for it. Reggie Wayne gave them hope by fumbling and giving former Colt Jason David the only thing he could be proud of at night’s end, a fumble recovery for a touchdown. For David, this would be the longest night of his professional life so Wayne’s temporary butter fingers that he capitalized on for a touchdown was his short respite from the relentless blitzkreig that was Thursday night for the Saints defense.

But what happened to the electric Saints offense last night? The same offense that was the league’s best a year ago came out and mustered just three points on offense. Yes, the Colts defense came out and played a game that none of us thought they were capable of. Yes, their young guys stepped up and made plays, the safeties were playing downhill and hitting people in the mouth. But where was the creativity? Sean Payton called the worst offensive game of his life Thursday night. Drew Brees’ longest completion of the night? Just 13 yards. It’s like like the Colts have two monsters lined up at corner, they have Kelvin Hayden and Marlin Jackson back there. Challenge them, go at ‘em, line up Reggie Bush in the slot and hope you get a linebacker on him. Whatever you do, don’t dip and dunk all-night. But that’s what they did. Payton only managed to get the balls in the hands of Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush a measly 22 times combined against the previously-porous Colts run defense. If you’re going to win football games, you have to be committed to the run, not give up on it because it doesn’t do anything for you the first couple series. If you’re Marques Colston, last year’s real offensive rookie of the year, you have to wonder if Sean Payton is ever going to give you a chance to do your job? You have a pro bowl receiver, a pro bowl quarterback and one of the most explosive, if not overrated, players in the league, going against two corners starting for the first time and a linebacking corps who’s best player is the Stay-Puff Marshmellow man himself, Gary Brackett, for God’s sake, throw the football down the field.

The Colts are the best team since the 49ers of the last 80’s and early 90’s. Forget the Patriots, Forget the Cowboys. The Patriots are a ragtag assemblage of role players and one superstar. The Cowboys, a team of superstars with a few key role players that held everything together. And then there’s the Colts. You get the sense when you watch these guys play that you’re watching a group of guys who care about each other. When you see Dallas Clark and Marvin Harrison greet each other in the endzone, you get the sense that those are two guys who are happy for one another when they catch touchdown passes, not envious because the ball didn’t come their way. Colts management knows that they can take away Nick Harper or Mike Peterson or Corey Simon or Cato June or Mike Doss but you don’t mess with Peyton, Marvin, Reggie and Dallas. Oh and you certainly don’t mess with Bob Sanders, not for team chemistry reasons but because I remember hearing that guns don’t kill people, Bob Sanders kills people.

I wondered in my notes while watching last night’s game when the Colts offensive line was going to begin getting the credit for producing 1,000-yard rushers that the Broncos line currently gets. Look at the two now-departed backs who have ran behind the line: Edgerrin James and Dominic Rhodes. Rhodes is now suffering in Oakland and will likely split time with Lamar Jordan, after serving a four-game suspension for violating the league’s controlled substance policy and James is in Arizona and is wondering when he will get a line in front of him that can block half as well as the one he used to run behind. The line took a rookie, Joseph Addai, and turned him into one of the top running backs in the league. It’s time this unit got its due as one of football’s best.

What can you say about Peyton Manning? The guy is incredible and when it’s all said and done will be the best quarterback in the history of this game. If you look at the three touchdown passes Manning threw last night, not a single one of those throws was flawed in any way, shape or form. No one in the league has ever thrown a prettier ball than Peyton Manning. Yes, I have been critical of Manning in the past. Yes, I believe that sometimes he reverts to moping (though no one mopes better than little bro Eli) and petulant, Marino-like sniping at his teammates when things don’t go well. Yes, I think he has been prone to throw his teammates under the bus (the post-game interview after the loss to the Steelers in ‘05 comes to mind). But I think winning the Super Bowl last year may have bled him dry of those antics. He seems to have matured from that win and emerged a better quarterback, a better teammate and maybe a better person. I harbor no illusions though that a man of Manning’s drive is satisfied with just one Super Bowl. He wants to look like a gypsy at the end of his career with a ring on every finger.

• Will the Colts line be held in the same regard as the Denver line as far as run blocking is concerned? Will they ascend to that level? They have made Joseph Addai, Edgerrin James, and Dominic Rhodes into 1,000 yard rushers.
• The Saints offense is non-impressive at this point and vanilla. Given who the Colts have at the corners, I thought we would see more of a vertical passing game then we have from the Saints so far.
• Why, oh, why is Sean Payton wearing a visor indoors? I mean, I understand the cap. The cap has become an indoor head accessory. The visor has not. It would be like me walking into the newsroom tomorrow with a beanie on.
• If I have to listen to this John Mellancamp This is Our Country Chevy commercial all-season, there is a fair chance I will end up sticking bamboo skewers in my ears by week three.

College football notes

• If Oregon State has any chance of winning this game against Cincinnati, they had better figure out how to block for Yvenson Bernard and protect the quarterback. So far, they have done neither.
• I can no longer take Louisville seriously or the Big East for that matter. How can I take a conference or a supposed top ten team seriously that gives up 35 points (with 13 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter) to Middle Tennessee? The same Middle Tennessee that lost to Florida Atlantic last week.

 This is the time of year where I lose months of my life with no idea what happened. Weekends spent on couches and in armchairs staring and sometimes yelling at the television. The NFL is back, college football is in full-swing. God bless Mike and Mike for continuing to talk about baseball despite the fact that no one cares.

Tonight the NFL opens with what promises to be a heck of a game between the Saints and the Colts in Indy. While I am excited for the game, I am not at all looking forward to the concert and all of the other non-football related crap that the NFL will put on tonight. I’m picking the Colts to win at home. There are few stadiums in the league that are as loud and mind-jarring at the RCA Dome with fans in full pitch. I’d expect to see a high-scoring affair but the New Orleans secondary is no match for Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai catching passes out of the backfield. Last season, I thought Reggie Bush was far and away the most overrated player in the NFL. The amount of production the Saints got out of him last season was wildly out of proportion to the attention paid to him in any given game. I would hope to see Bush in more of a feature back role but he is undeniably dangerous when lined up in the slot.

I am definitely keeping an eye on this tropical storm that is headed this way. I have lived in Destin for a little over a year now and the closest I’ve ever come to experiencing a hurricane was Tropical Storm Alberto that steered clear of here but still kicked up some waves and some wind. Not real interested in experiencing a major hurricane. Fingers crossed.

__________

A really interesting article in the Rocky Mountain News on Javon Walker and how he is dealing, or not dealing, with the shooting death of teammate Darrent Williams.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune ponders what a LSU/USC BCS title game would be like. One word: delicious. 

Arkansas suffers a tough loss on offense.

Washington Post columnist Norman Chad on how sports journalists have infilitrated radio and TV, for better or worse.

An early Fanhouse review of Madden 08.

Philadelphia sports writers react to last night’s preseason thumping.

• Les Bowen: Nearly pointless
• Phil Sheridan: Kolb’s debut not fantastic, not terrible
• Dana Pennett O’Neil: Rookie tight end impressive in opener.
• John Smallwood: Kolb’s schooling just beginning.

The Washington Post’s Michael Wilbon on the mess at Ball State.

A nice Indy Star piece on Marvin Harrison.

Is The Big Ten college football’s most overrated conference?

South Carolina looking desperately for an offensive line.

Vince Young apologizes for one-game suspension.

Michael Vick’s attorneys are working on a plea deal.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wish tight end Alex Smith was as good at real football as he is at Madden.

Broncos cornerback Dominique Foxworth frustrated with lack of playing time.  Foxworth is a good young corner and everyone had to have seen this coming when the Broncos acquired Dre Bly in the off-season. My guess is that Foxworth will become such a headache that the Broncos will end up shopping him around next off season barring an injury to Dre Bly or Champ Bailey.

__________

Well-rounded news… 

Apple to pit iPhone against Nintendo DS.

Kevin Smith to cast Jason Bateman as male lead in upcoming romantic comedy?

Title of new Punisher flick ensure it’s going to be terrible.

The Bostonist chats it up with Bottom Line fav. Matt Nathanson, whose new album Some Mad Hope comes out today.

___________

No, seriously…

Chicago cops ticket the Weinermobile.

New Zealand parents want to name their son “4Real” after ultrasound.

__________

What the hell are the Detroit Lions so confident about?

An interesting column on Joe Paterno in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Article on last night’s showing by the Colts D in today’s Indy Star.

The Louisville Courier-Journal’s Rick Bozich thinks IU has found its head football coach in interim coach Bill Lynch.

The Kansas City Star’s Joe Posnanski is pretty high on Chiefs QB Brodie Croyle.

Bengals rookie tailback Kenny Irons could be done for the season.

The AJC’s Tony Barnhart ranks the SEC’s defensive backs.

Texas defensive end Mario Williams is going to try not to suck in 2007.

__________

Well-rounded news…

Matt Damon gets animated on Arthur and the results are kind of creepy.

Forbes lists the top 10 most expensive commutes in America.

Disney-MGM Studios changes its name next year.

Stephen King on the final installment of Harry Potter.

NPR on why MTV has edited out “suicidal” from the Sean Kingston song “Beautiful Girls.”