A good day for the Red Sox

Firstly, Joe Torre is seemingly done in New York.

After 11 years and four World Series titles, Joe Torre won't be watching games from the Yankees bench next season, plotting moves. Instead, his — and the Yankees — future is up in the air. Days of discussion and an hour young meeting with management led to a generous, but performance-based, contract offer. Had Torre agreed to stay with the Yanks, he would've received a salary of $5 million US compared to nearly $7.5 million he earned last year. He still would have been the highest paid manager in the game by $1.5 million over the Cubs Lou Piniella.

This decision by Torre now sets the stage for a possible mass defection out of the Bronx, with several of their big name players either able to opt out of their contracts or just having their deals expire. The Yanks will look a lot different on Opening Day 08.

But that good news was just early edition filler to the better, later news for the Red Sox Nation. Boston staved off elimination against the Indians, largely due to the studly performance of starter Josh Beckett. By taking the win in game 5, Boston brings the series back to Fenway but won't have Beckett to save them on Saturday. Curt Schilling will go against Fausto Carmona in a rematch of game 2. Schilling's going to have to conjure up some of his magic from previous post-seasons to keep his team in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Rockies are sitting, smouldering and waiting.

Kobe, Kobe, Kobe

Reports have started to fly that the Black Mamba has cleaned out his locker. Of course, these are only reports and they have been denied by Kobe, but in the midst of his apparent exit from Los Angeles, what would this mean if it’s true? Several teams have expressed interest in Bryant, the latest being Dallas, but Kobe’s future is completely unknown right now. He is back at practice after missing three days and Phil Jackson says he will play tonight, which is good news for Lakers fans, which haven’t gotten a lot of press when they should have during this ordeal. How come no one has stood up for the fans who could be in the process of being fleeced out of one of the game’s top players? If I wrote for an L.A.-based paper, I would be all over the fans reactions to this and showing Kobe how much he would be missed in the city of angels.

It writes itself

With the Colorado Rockies already having clinched their birth in the World Series and the Indians at least a game away from earning theirs, I can already see the stories being scribbled out about how these days of rest will either hurt or help Colorado. Every year in the playoffs in any league, the question is posed: “Will this time off make them rusty?” It’s the easiest story in the world to write and it’s getting annoying and highly repetitive. As if professional athletes will forget how to function after a few days of rest. This story will be played up even more considering the incredible hot streak that Colorado is riding. If they can manage to win the World Series without losing a game, that’s something legends are made of. But beating either Cleveland or Boston four games in a row is extremely tough.

The other story that will be played up is the fact that the Rox are a small market team. They don’t have nearly the payroll of most of their competitors and haven’t made huge splashes in free agency. Their most notable acquisition on the roster is Kaz Matsui, a Mets cast-off who was, well, cast-off for a reason.

With the Indians taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the ALCS last night, it’s looking pretty good that there will be tons of headlines alluding to Rock and Roll. Cleveland, being the home of the Rock and Roll hall of fame, and the Rockies for even more obvious reasons.

A minor victory

Well, the better team walked out of Texas Stadium with a win. Dallas can take away the fact that they were the first team to have a lead over the Patriots in the second so far this season, but a victory would've been a ton sweeter. Tony Romo bounced back significantly from his performance in Buffalo, but then again, it would've been impossible to do worse and still have a job. I did notice two things about Dallas that either I haven't noticed that much before or just didn't notice at all because they had been playing inferior teams to New England.

Firstly, Marion Barber throws out stiff arms like he wants to cripple someone. I don't think it's unlikely someone's head may fall off if Marion wanted it to happen. Secondly, the Cowboys' pass rush is among, if not the, best in the league. The Patriots touted line did a good job blocking for Brady but Dallas was able to pressure him enough to make him throw some errant passes.

Also, with a coach like Belichick and a player like Brady who both command respect, how unsportsmanlike is it that they refuse to down the ball or even just do simple up-the-gut runs to kill the clock when their opponents are down and have no time outs? I think it's fine in college where you have to run up the score against poor teams to impress voters, but in the NFL, come on. If I was up against New England and they tried that sort of thing, I'd send out someone to dive at Brady's knees. If Belichick can't get suspended for blatantly cheating, what chance would they have suspending me in that situation? You have no respect for my team? I have no respect for yours. Good luck winning without Tom.

It may have been against the potentially 0-16 Dolphins, but how about Cleveland's offense? I thought Cincinnati was supposed to be the team with the dominant offense from Ohio. Speaking of Cincy, losing to the Chiefs isn't going to help their reputation. Quite frankly, I'd like them to start winning if only to see some Ocho Cinco touchdown dances.

St. Louis kept pace in the race with Miami to 0-16 by getting shut down by the Ravens 22-3. It's going to be a close finish but at least Miami will be able to get a QB like Colt Brennan or whoever and the Rams can get anyone who knows how to play defense or block in the draft.

Tomlinson's Chargers may, in fact, be back on the right track. Or the Raiders are just back on their same old track. LDT ran for nearly 200 yards and scored four times. Many may forget because of his overall total for last season, but the majority of those touchdowns came in a string of 10 games. Everyone who drafted LDT shouldn't be too worried about that poor opening stretch he had.

How about that Adrian Peterson? No, not the one that ran twice, gaining 11 yards for Chicago; the one on the Vikings who ran for 224 yards and scored three touchdowns on only 20 attempts. Best rushing game for a rookie ever? I think so.

Two QBs who were signed mid-week were forced into action this week in the same game. The ancient one, Vinny Testaverde led the Panthers to a win over Tim Rattay's Cardinals. Vinny actually started for the Panthers instead of the injured tandem of Jake Delhomme (on the IR) and David Carr (sore back, white gloves). Rattay on the other hand, was forced into action when Kurt Warner went down with a sprained left (non-throwing) elbow. Maybe I'm fantasy cursed, Warner, my latest QB has followed Marc Bulger (ribs, awfulness) and Alex Smith (back, awfulness) to the sidelines. I should trade everything I have for Brady just to see him get hurt.

It's not quite what you'd expect from the Madden Curse but Vince Young was sidelined with a leg injury yesterday in the Titans loss to the Buccaneers. He was able to jog to locker room but sat out the fourth quarter. Come on John, that's the best your curse can do? Step it up a notch.

The Saints offense was able to catch fire and actually look like a shade of its' 2006 self last night in Seattle. Drew Brees threw his first three TDS of the season and Reggie Bush looked like the player he's supposed to be. The Seahawks on the other hand are looking worse every game. Hasselbeck and Alexander just aren't the players they used to be.

This Week: 3-6-2
This Season: 29-44-8

I'm really losing hold of this season.