You gotta feel for the Phillies. They have a rotation that makes other teams salivate, they cruise to the division title and act like a team ready to roll.

And then all but two guys on the team bat .100 in the post-season. Seriously, Ryan Howard -really- really really needs to figure out how to cut down on the Ks.

Given the results of the last week I think I’d predict the likelihood of a Rangers-Brewers World Series match-up over all other possibilities.

It is a bad sign when you lose a home football game. Especially if it is homecoming. Right after a big win and your season looked like it was turning up instead of down. A bad sign when you lose to a team that won only 1 game last year. A bad sign to lose your homecoming game to a team that had not won a road game since late in 2008. Bad when that team only has one good player and he got hurt halfway through the third quarter and didn’t play again. A bad sign to lose a close game when you have chances right on the other team’s doorstep and do nothing with them. Just bad all over.

Who is Steele Jantz?

a) the cop played by Brian Bosworth in “Stone Cold”
b) the fake company Jennifer Garner worked for on “Alias”
c) the starting quarterback for Iowa State University.

NFC Divisions:
Philly doesn’t live up to the hype but against the overrated Giants and Cowboys and disorganized Washington they go 11-5.
The Packers are young and will be healthier. Vikings and Bears head down and the Lions aren’t there yet. GB goes 12-4.
Atlanta caught a lot of breaks last year. Most people are on the bandwagon for them to drop – go the opposite and win the division.
St. Louis emerges against inferior foes, Bradford is up and coming, Jackson has new life and they shock into a double-digit win season.
Wild Cards: Despite the crowd that loves the Lions… I love them too. 9-7, last man in. The Saints pull a WC game again.

AFC Divisions:
Patriots will play their game of valiant no-stars after their golden boy QB and hit 12 wins.
The Steelers – see Patriots, New England. Easier division-foe schedule helps them hit 12 wins as well.
Houston, in a make it or fire the coach season, hits double-digit wins while the rest of the division flounders.
San Diego, see Texans, Houston, overcomes their own coaching and early season frailty and wins the division title.
Wild Cards: Jets and Ravens are just bad enough not to win their divisions, but good enough to beat everyone else.

Playoffs:
Eagles over Lions, Saints over Rams, Texans over Ravens, Chargers over Jets
Packers over Saints, Eagles over Falcons, Steelers over Chargers, Patriots over Texans
Packers over Eagles, Patriots over Steelers
Packers repeat, over the Patriots 31-28.

MVP: Tom Brady
Offensive Rookie: AJ Green
Defensive Rookie: Von Miller
Coaches fired…Washington, NY Giants, Bengals, Jaguars
Next year’s draft order… Cincinnati, Seattle, Carolina, Buffalo, Tennessee, Carolina…

Did you see the Jags cut Garrard to save and not pay his $9 mil salary?
They will start the rotting corpse of Josh McCown at QB and make Blaine Gabbert come off the bench.

Interesting fact – 50% of the Jags roster didn’t know Josh McCown was still in the NFL, 49% mistook him for Cade McNown and the other 1% wanted to know why the team cut the guy who played Buck Rogers on tv.

Five years ago I give you these two choices.

a – in 2011 US citizens will pool their money and, after giving 40 million to charity, everyone gets a turn beating Michael Vick with a stick.
or
b – in 2011 Michael Vick will have a 100 million contract, with nearly 40 million of it guaranteed.

How many would select ‘b’? I imagine it would not be everyone.

Did the Big Ten name their splits ‘Lame Name’ and ‘Lamer Name’? And how are they grouped? There is no North-South or geographical split.

If you have ‘Leaders’ and ‘Legends’, does the new Nebraska entry become a leader? They should end up ranked higher than any other conference foe except Wisconsin. Then again, maybe they are a Legendary team. Who knows? Just tell me if tOSU and Michigan are in the same division.

Can someone tell me the difference between Anna Kournikova and Danica Patrick?

Both are good enough at their sport to beat the average person, but not good enough to be #1 against other professionals.
Both are attractive, but not so hands-down-gorgeous that they could stop passing traffic and win awards.
Both are pleasant enough, but not so compelling or engaging that you’d have time to hear them interviewed with regularity.

I’ve bowled – never been great at it and never loved it. I’ve watched bowling – never gotten a lot out of it. For some reason I always loved it when ABC ran the bowling shows on the weekends when I was a kid. Somehow they made this totally repetitious activity a fascinating event. I don’t even watch them now, but then it was so cool.