1. The Patriots are good.I mean, I knew that they were going be frontrunners after all the off-season garage sale pick-ups Belichick and the front office acquired, but sheesh...this is just ridiculous. 9-0, with a legitimate shot at 19-0, and Maddenesque numbers being put up by Tom Brady and Randy Moss. Spygate shmygate...I don't care how many video cameras you have pointed at the Jets' sideline, or how many microphones you have in the Browns' locker room, or how many web cams you have in the Cowboys' shower...you still have to read the coverage and you still have to be able to execute. Plain and simple. Maybe the "cheating" gives them a slight advantage, but the Pats are still annhilating almost every team they face. With Buffalo, the Jets, the Dolphins, and the Ravens coming up, the beat-downs should continue. Pittsburgh is playing some good football these days, and you never know which Eagles and Giants teams will show up, so we'll just have to wait and see how things unfold over the next 7 weeks.
2. The Blue Jackets are on the brink of being good.It's very early in a very long season, but as of today the CBJ are 5th in the Western Conference, with a record of 8-5-3. While most teams in the NHL would be happy with that record, the Jackets, and their fans, have to be ecstatic. A friend of mine told me that the philosophy of Ken Hitchcock is to break the season down into 8 10-game mini-seasons. It keeps the team focused and striving for a .500 or better record in each 10-game stint. The Jackets went 6-3-1 in their first series, and are 2-2-2 in the current one. With 3 of their next 4 games taking place at Nationwide Arena, there is a good chance that their second series will finish not too far off the mark set by the first.
Pascal LeClaire has been, for the most part, sublime in goal. Coming into this season, he had 1 shutout in his brief NHL career. He has 5 so far this season. However, it's feast or famine for our favorite French-Canadian goalie, as he either throws a no-hitter or turns into, well, Pascal LeClaire.
Rick Nash has been scoring points by the bushel, which is exactly what he was born to do. It's finally nice to see him doing what he's done for Team Canada over the last 5 years...score big goals and carry his team to victory.
All that being said, I do realize that the CBJ have 66 games left this season, of which they could easily lose 50.
3. The Buckeyes pulled off a coup d'etat by ascending to the throne, and have now been summarily tossed into banishment by the public.Was it smoke and mirrors that got Ohio State to 10-0? Were the Buckeyes looking ahead to their showdown with Michigan? Did Jim Tressel forget to put on his lucky sweater vest this past Saturday? It really doesn't matter what the answer may be, because the Buckeyes took themselves right out of the National Championship hunt by doing their best impersonation of a fish out of water against Illinois. At home, senior day, #1 in the nation, against an unranked team. If you're going to go down, you may as well go down hard. As George Costanza once said, "I really wanna leave my mark this time, you know? I wanna walk away from the Yankees with people saying 'Wow! Now that guy got canned!'"
Until next time, please take a moment to remember all our fallen soldiers on this Veterans' Day.
