NFL Visions, Part 1

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP

Oakland Raiders, 5-4

I thought they'd have a turnaround season heading into the year, then gave up on them quickly after losses to Arizona and San Fran left them at 2-4. But then they curbstomped the Broncos and Seahawks and pulled out an overtime victory over KC to pull to within a half-game of the Chiefs. Maybe Al Davis isn't crazy after all? ... No, Al Davis is crazy.

Cleveland Browns, 3-5

I'm not saying they're great, I'm just saying things are looking up. With their top two quarterbacks hurt, they turned to rookie Colt McCoy and he's led them to wins over the Saints and Patriots. And the games weren't even close. How crazy is that? Plus they get Jacksonville and Carolina after a match-up with the Jets.

Rookies

-Jahvid Best has slowed of late, but he's been solid for the Lions and had 88 all-purpose yar

ds against a good Jets defense on Sunday.

-Ndamukong Suh has 6.5 sacks and was the October Rookie of the Month.

-Dez Bryant has a lot of competition at the receiver position on the Cowboys, but he h

as over 400 yards and four touchdowns.

-Mike Williams has done even better for the Bucs with over 500 yards and five TDs.

-As noted above, Colt McCoy has defeated the Saints and Patriots in back-to-back games.

-Sam Bradford has had a relatively incredible first eight games, at least when you consi

der that he's a rookie QB. He's on pace for over 3,200 yards and 22 TDs, the latter being more t

han Schaub, Sanchez, Favre, Henne, McNabb, Cutler ... the list goes on. Matt Ryan's rookie season is considered one of the best ever, and he threw 16 TDs that year. Bradford has also shown incredible poise for a rookie--he has a 101.1 QB rating and zero interceptions on third down.

New York Giants, 6-2

All of a sudden they can't be stopped: they've reeled off five straight wins and are tied (with five other teams) for the best record in the NFL. They've scored at least 28 points in each of their last four games.

THINGS ARE LOOKING DOWN

Houston Texans, 4-4

If you want a quick score, you're better off playing the Texans than dating Kim Kardashian. (Burned!) But seriously, only three teams give up more points than they do, and their horrendous defense suddenly has them at .500 and tied for last in the AFC South. Okay, granted, they're only a game behind the Colts and Titans, but the Texans' porous secondary has the arrow pointing down in Houston.

Minnesota Vikings, 3-5

Favre finally broke into his bag of magic tricks on Sunday, leading his team back from 14 points down to beat the Cardinals. However, they still find themselves at 3-5, 2.5 back of the Pack. Their next two weeks should go a long way toward determining the final trajectory of their season--they visit the Bears and then have their second match-up against the Packers.

Seattle Seahawks, 4-4

Like the Texans, they're still at least treading water. But they've been outscored 74-10 the last two weeks and suffered their worst home loss since 2002 on Sunday. Suffice to say, things are not looking up. In fact, they kind of look like what you'd find in a diaper.

The tale of Giants sacks and the three Bears

If you'd have told me before the season started that the Bears would be 3-1 after four games and I'd be extremely concerned, I'd have calmly explained to you the concept of wins and losses and kindly inquired as to your understanding of the meaning of the word "concerned."

But 3-1 is what they are, and concerned is what I am. When will Cutler return from his concussion, and will he remain effective when he does? Can the offensive line block anyone?

One would think the Bears didn't beat the Cowboys and the Packers entirely by accident. This team has talent, and it can't truly be as bad as it looked Sunday night, right? Right?? The unwatchable nature of that game made me worry that this season is kind of like the goldfish you win at the fair as a kid. Look at me, I have a PET! It's a FISH and it's ALIVE and I get to take it home and watch it swim around! I'm the luckiest kid EVER! But three days later it's just an orange floatie-thing at the top of the tank and someone in the family has to flush it down the toilet. That fish did not bring me as much joy as I expected! Worst toy EVER!

How can the Bears have looked so bad so suddenly? What was Cutler doing out there? I haven't seen that many sacks since I attended my local mall's Santa Claus orientation. Why wouldn't he throw the ball? In the first half, Cutler completed eight passes and took nine sacks, and the Bears had nine more all-purpose yards (that includes kick and punt returns) than yards lost in sacks (55). What these numbers add up to is this: many of the Bears' offensive woes could have been solved by Cutler THROWING THE DAMN BALL! The Sunday Night crew did a great job of pointing out some of the instances in which Cutler simply failed to read the blitz and see the open man. It's like the bright lights and all the hits he was taking sent his brain back to 1906, pre-forward pass: "I don't need any of these newfangled 'throws' I've been hearing about on my new synchronous rotary-spark transmitter. We need to cut out this funny business. I mean what's the big idea, anyways?"

So Cutler was just a liiiiiitle too concussed. But enter Todd Collins. No, that won't work--he was just a liiiiiitle too old and washed up. The Bears might as well have had Todd Hollandsworth out there. Caleb Hanie? He was juuuuust awful.

At least Peppers played well.

One final thing: can we please wait until Devin Hester has, say, one more good punt return before we declare that he is the most dangerous man in football and essentially guaranteed to return every punt for a touchdown if you punt to him? It wasn't just Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, it seems like everyone's doing it. The MNF guys last week admonished the Packers for kicking to Hester, asking how a team can possibly kick it to someone who's so explosive. How about because, um, he hadn't returned a punt for a touchdown since Bush was in office? Don't get me wrong, I hope Hester is back with a vengeance and I think it'd be great if teams start kicking away from him and giving the Bears free field position. But the praise for him has been a little much given that he has one return TD in the last three seasons.

Are the Giants as bad as they've looked?

Probably not. They actually outgained the Titans significantly despite losing 29-10 on Sunday, and they've got a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. I'm excited because the Bears absolutely have a chance to move to 4-0 (they're just 3.5 point underdogs), but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The Bears are coming off a game in which they had to get super pumped up to play on Monday Night Football against a division rival, they have a short week to prepare, and New York is desperate for a win after falling to the bottom of the NFC East. Hopefully the Bears will be ready and rarin' to go in another prime-time matchup.

Last year's Sunday night Bears games:

@ Green Bay, L, 21-15

@ Atlanta, L, 21-14

vs. Philadelphia, L, 24-20

Not awesome.

The Bears last faced the Giants in 2007, losing 21-16 at home after getting outscored 14-0 in the fourth quarter.

Also not awesome.

As I've said before, the Bears really needed to be 2-2 at the season's quarter-mark. Instead, they're guaranteed to be at least 3-1. But while I've tried to temper expectations a bit, I'm not against a healthy dose of optimism heading into Sunday night--this season's been a ton of fun so far, so what say we keep it rolling?

KEYS TO THE GAME

Missing centerpiece. The Giants' center has been battling ankle tendinitis and the team has struggled to replace him. Eli Manning has been sacked seven times and the Giants have scored 24 points in their last two games.

Prevent the Mario Manningham deep ball. Though Manning looks for Steve Smith and Hakeem Nicks more often (that's one hell of a receiving trio, by the way), Manningham (from? Michigan) is the guy he looks for when he wants to take a shot down field: he averages 17 yards/catch and has already had six receptions of 20 yards or more. As I write this, however (Wednesday), Manningham's status is in doubt due to a concussion.

Try to establish a running game. I know I sound like a broken record, but hear me out: the Giants have allowed just 169 passing yards per game, fourth in the league; but they've allowed 136 rushing yards per game, 26th in the league. I do believe the Bears can have success through the air against almost anyone, but this would be a good week to see if Forte can gain some traction on the ground.

NFL Visions, Part 1

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP

The Chicago Motherf**king Bears, 3-0

After vanquishing the Packers on Monday Night Football, the Monsters of the Midway are the lone undefeated team in the NFC. They also have the second-longest winning streak in football at five games (the Steelers have won six straight). We've got a season on our hands, Bears fans. (More tomorrow.)

Pittsburgh Steelers, 3-0

Um, wasn't there some type of "Our quarterback might have raped a girl/The face of our franchise is a monster/Ohmygod we're starting Charlie Batch???!!" situation going on here? No? Nothing like that? I could have sworn there was something like that.

Somehow Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch have the Steelers at 3-0 with Ben Roethlisberger coming back after one more game (a tough one against Baltimore). At worst, they'll be 3-1 and tied atop the division when he returns. Their defense is for reals, yo.

Kansas City Chiefs, 3-0

It's one thing to be 3-0 when you haven't won more than four games total since 2006. And it's one thing to trounce the Niners 31-10 in what was supposed to be a close game. And it's one more thing to have two running backs with over 200 yards rushing when, say, the Panthers don't have any.

But what's really interesting is that the Chiefs are in first place in the piece of s**t AFC West BY TWO GAMES. They're pretty fun to watch with rookies Javier Arenas and Dexter McCluster returning punts and kicks, and with youngster Jamaal Charles averaging seven yards per carry.

Back-up quarterbacks

Not that they're necessarily playing well, but they are playing:

-Seneca Wallace filled in for Jake Delhomme in Cleveland's last two games

-Jimmy Claussen is in for Matt Moore

-Michael Vick has usurped Kevin Kolb

-In Buffalo, Ryan Fitzpatrick is in and Trent Edwards is out

-Matthew Stafford is still hurt for Detroit, opening the door for Shaun Hill

-Tom Cable already pulled the plug on Jason Campbell, inserting Bruce Gradkowski

-Derek Anderson took over for Matt Leinart before the season even started

Atlanta Falcons, 2-1

They couldn't move the ball at all against the Steelers in Week 1, but they didn't give up a touchdown until overtime. They then went on to crush the Cardinals and beat the Saints in a thriller on Sunday in New Orleans. Plus, the NFC South has never had a repeat division winner, so they've got history on their side as they attempt to dethrone the Saints.

THINGS ARE LOOKING DOWN

Minnesota Vikings, 1-2

They beat the Lions to keep their season alive, but c'mon, the Lions have lost 400 straight road games (actually 22, and they're chasing their own franchise record of 24. I believe in you, Lions. You can do this.). Brett Favre went undrafted in my fantasy football league because he's inherently evil, but no one's really missing out: Favre's QB rating is 30th in the NFL, and he's already thrown six picks and fumbled once; he had seven interceptions and two fumbles all of last season. Maybe this is where his downfall began (or not, but it's really fun to watch):

New York Giants, 1-2

Their win over Carolina looks less and less meaningful with each steaming pile of poop the Panthers leave on the field, and they were outscored 67-24 by the Colts and Titans. Maybe the Bears can help clear up their outlook by pasting them this Sunday night.

Being able to watch games on TV

We've already had four blackouts. And by "we," I mean the three remaining Raiders fans, stupid Chargers fans who apparently refuse to go to their games, and people in Tampa Bay who are probably not aware that they have a local NFL team. The Bucs have been blacked out for two home games while San Diego and Oakland have each been blacked out once. Twenty-two games were blacked out last season.

Short field goal attempts to win games

Man, I would hate to be a kicker. I mean, it's the only position I could possibly even attempt in the NFL because it wouldn't require me to die at the hands of a large, angry man, and I'd make lots of money just for kicking a football. But I'm saying if I were actually talented and could have an NFL career, it would kind of suck to be a kicker. You made it? Good job, pat on the back. You missed it? You f**king MISSED it? Are you KIDDING me? All that work we did and we lose the game because you're a pansy-ass kicker and you're unable to kick a football through the damn uprights? I hate you, kicker! We all hate you! You're not even a real part of this team!

So anways, Garrett Hartley missed a 29-yarder in overtime against the Falcons and Sebastian Janikowski missed a 32-yarder as time expired. Both of them would have won their respective games. Do you think they had to lay down in their respective locker rooms after the games and let their teammates kick them as a way of meting out justice for their unforgivable mistakes? I like to think so.

NFL Visions, Part 2

THINGS ARE LOOKING BLURRY

AFC Playoff picture
Denver (8-5) and Jacksonville (7-6) would be in if the season ended today (it doesn't), but Miami, the Jets and Baltimore are all 7-6 as well while the Steelers, Texans and Titans are 6-7. Of the teams currently on the outside looking in, Baltimore might be the one to keep an eye on. They get the Bears, Steelers and Raiders in their final three games, while the Jets draw both the Colts and Bengals and the Dolphins have to deal with the Titans, the Texans and the Steelers.

But wait! The Dolphins and Jets trail the Patriots by just one game in the AFC East as well. It looks like Week 17 will have an awful lot to say about this year's playoffs.

New York Giants, 7-6
This has to be the most mercurial team in the NFL this year. They had the highest of expectations heading into the season, which made their 5-0 start rather ho hum. But the four consecutive losses that succeeded it were quite a shock. A win over the Falcons made some--me, at least--believe they were back on track, but then they got obliterated by the Broncos on Thanksgiving and I gave up on them. So, naturally, they beat the Cowboys the following week. But then they gave up 45 points in a loss to the Eagles this past week. Bottom line: if you're a betting man (or woman), take a big, fat, black marker and black out the Giants game each week from your list of betting options. I hope they don't make the playoffs, because that would be one postseason betting option out the window.

DON'T LOOK AT ME I'M HIDEOUS

Chicago Bears, 5-8
I've dedicated plenty of ink (er, computer words) to the Bears' suckiness. There's no doubt in my mind that they belong in this category. Three of their five wins were over the Rams, Browns and Lions. Now I realize you can only play the games on your schedule, and a win's a win. But the NFL, with its 16-game schedule, requires fans to scrutinize teams' schedules more closely than in any other sport. If the Bears has played, say, the NFC East rather than the NFC West, their record would probably be 3-10 instead of 5-8. And if that were the case, Halas Hall would be in full out panic mode, rather than "Hm, perhaps we should make a change, but perhaps not" mode.

Every Sunday morning, I get a little excited about the upcoming Bears game (although in recent weeks, I've gone from being a little excited to a little excited to a little excited, but it's still there). But pretty much as soon as the game starts, I remember how dreadfully awful they are and that I don't really like watching them. I'm too much of a fan not to watch, but I wish I could follow the advice of my own category and not look at them. Because they're hideous.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1-12
Man, what happened to this team? They were 8-4 at one point last year, but lost their last four games. Which makes them 1-16 in their last 17 games. And while QB Josh Freeman was looking good for a while, he threw five interceptions two weeks ago against Carolina, and then three more last week against the Jets. At least his interception total dropped from Week 13 to Week 14. So ... they have that going for them.

Kansas City Chiefs, 3-10
Remember when Matt Cassel had a big year with the Patriots last year, and then he became a free agent, and he signed with the Chiefs? And it was like, "Hm, maybe the Chiefs will be decent this year." Um, no. Cassel has had some decent games this year, but the Chiefs have scored the fifth-fewest points in the league. Not to be out-sucked, the defense has allowed the fourth-most points in the league. Perhaps the most amazing thing about Kansas City's miserable season has been their struggles at home. They've amassed a 140-40 record at Arrowhead since 1990, which is the NFL's best home record in that stretch. But they're just 1-6 there in 2009.

Top billing

Is there a better rivalry in sports than Patriots-Colts? Maybe Red Sox-Yankees, maybe Lakers-Celtics. But pretty much every year, you can count on a big-time battle between two teams vying for home field in the playoffs, and that game is likely to be decided in the final two minutes. And many years, you can look forward to an even more exciting postseason match-up. (Despite a formulaic regular season scheduling process, the two teams have played every year since 2003, and also met in the postseason in '04, '05 and '07.)

Four Super Bowl trophies between them in this decade. Tom Brady. Peyton Manning. Two high-octane offenses. The white collar, dome-homed Colts. The blue-collar Pats in the Foxborough snow. Belichick and Dungy (and now Caldwell).

And it was Belichick who added the newest layer of drama to this rivalry already thick with exciting chapter after exciting chapter. Going for it on 4th-and-2 from their own 28 with just over two minutes to go and a six-point lead?

Wow.

Methinks Bill's hoodie was blocking his view of the scoreboard. Yes, there's a good chance that Manning marches the Colts down the field even if they start at their own 20 or 30. But you have to make him score the touchdown, not let him. Manning doesn't even need to put his cleats on to go 28 yards. Twenty-eight yards for him is taking candy from a baby. Seventy-five yards is at least candy from a teenager, or a remarkably strong and determined baby.

And for the defense to stop Manning from going down the field certainly wasn't out of the question given that he threw two interceptions in the second half and the Pats defense forced five first half punts by the Colts.

But despite all that, I can't help but appreciate the balls and bravado behind that call. Who else does that? He's gone for it on fourth down 16 times against the Colts, and that was only the fourth time they've failed to convert. It was the wrong call, but it was as gutsy as it gets. And there's something cool about that. Unless, of course, you're on the Patriots side of this great rivalry.

The beauty of the bye week

What's going on with bye weeks this year? Apparently the best thing you can do in the NFL is take Sunday off.

Week 6: Cowboys get a bye while the Eagles, Giants and Redskins lose.

Week 9: Vikings are off while the Bears, Packers and Lions stumble.

Week 10: The Giants, who have lost four in a row, finally get a break from losing thanks to their bye week. And the teams they're chasing--the Cowboys and Eagles--allow them right back into the thick of the NFC East race with road losses.

Do the Bears get another bye?

NFL visions, Part 1

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP

Minnesota Vikings, 6-0
You have no idea how much it pains me to be writing this. Saying that things are looking up for the Vikings makes me feel like my lunch might be looking to come back up. But what can I say? They're one of four remaining unbeatens, Brett Favre has the third-highest QB rating in the land, and Adrian Peterson is back atop the NFL in rushing yards. I predicted they would go 9-7, and that's looking about as likely as the Rams making the playoffs. But hope remains, Bears fans: in 2008, the season took its toll on Favre and he struggled mightily down the stretch. He's been sacked 14 times this year, so we'll have to wait and see what November and December have in store for the Vikes. But for now, their stock is higher than Geovany Soto.

Arizona Cardinals, 3-2
Warner, Fitzgerald & Co. started 1-2 and it was easy to say they had fallen back to Earth after a lucky run to the Super Bowl last year. But after beating a solid Texans squad and pasting a Seahawks team that had played well at home until then, the Cardinals find themselves over .500 and tied for first in the extremely winnable NFC West. (Unless you are the Rams. The Rams cannot win the NFC West. This is known as the Rams Clause.) But they need to get the ground game going if they want to continue to rise--their best rushing performance of the season was a 72-yard game from Tim Hightower in Week 2.

New England Patriots, 4-2
Remember when the Jets held them to zero touchdowns and made Tom Brady look like, I don't know, Wayne Brady? A changing of the guard in the AFC East, right? Wrong. Four weeks later and the Pats are back in their cozy little first place nook, a nook to which they've become quite accustomed over the years. And even if they were still in last place, they would have to be in the "Things are looking up" category after their 59-0 drubbing of the Titans. NFL Visions rule #1: If you win by at least 50 points, things are looking up.

Atlanta Falcons, 4-1
If the season ended today, the Falcons would be the top-seeded NFC Wild Card team. Plus, they're only a game back of the seemingly unstoppable Saints. They were underdogs in San Fran two weeks ago but handed the Niners their worst-ever loss at Candlestick. Then they beat a tough Bears team (single tear) to move to 4-1. They have the Cowboys on tap, and then a huge Monday night affair in New Orleans.

THINGS ARE LOOKING DOWN

New York Jets, 3-3
Tell me if this sounds familiar: Jets get a new quarterback, get off to a hot start, then said quarterback throws 10 million interceptions and things go downhill. Last year it was veteran Brett Favre, this year it's rookie Mark Sanchez. Three weeks into his NFL career, he was 3-0 and everyone was talking about an all-New York Super Bowl (didn't they say that last year, too?). But it turns out Sanchez is, in fact, a rookie: one TD and eight picks in his last three games, including back-to-back divisional losses.

Baltimore Ravens, 3-3
Just call it the NFL Visions jinx. Things were looking up for both the Jets and Ravens after Week 3, and now they both find themselves spiraling downward in this random categorical system I've made up. In their first three games, they scored 38, 31 and 34 points, respectively. A potent offense to go with your dominant defense? Yes, I'd like that very much, thank you. But wait--where'd the defense go? They're allowing nearly 22 points per game and rank 22nd in pass defense. Since when does Baltimore score 31 points and lose? They sit in third place in the AFC North.

Philadelphia Eagles, 3-2
Though 3-2 is very respectable and they're still just 1.5 games behind the Giants, a loss to the Raiders is absolutely crushing. Oakland had been outscored 130-49 prior to their 13-9 victory on Sunday. McNabb was sacked six times even though Oakland had just nine sacks in their first five games combined. Any given Sunday, etc., etc., but in a season where the "Have"s have a lot and the "Have not"s all look like they're owned by Al Davis, this may turn out to be the biggest loss of the year for any team.

New York Giants, 5-1
Lucky for the Eagles, the team they're chasing appears to have a few chinks in their armor. Saying that "things are looking down" for them doesn't mean they're a bad team, it just means that there's no way Giants fans are looking at the G-Men quite the way they were one week ago. Saints-Giants was supposed to be the game of the week. Hell, the game of the year. The Giants' ground game versus the Saints' air attack. Bruising backs against a precise passer. And then ... pfffft. The air came out of the Giants' balloon faster than Balloon Boy came out of his. The Giants might still be the second-best team in the NFC, but right now, it appears to be a pretty distant second.

Despite having two wins, the Redskins just might be the worst team in the NFL

The Redskins have played six games, all of them against winless teams. How incredible is that? Of course, four of them aren't winless any more because the Redskins were kind enough to give them their first victory. They lost to the Giants in Week 1, gave the Lions their first win in over a year-and-a-half, blew a 15-point second half lead against the Panthers, and then scored just six points at home to the now 1-5 Chiefs.

And by the way: their two victories consist of a 9-7 win over the Rams in which they got booed at home, and a 16-13 victory over the Bucs. Sorry, Titans fans--the Redskins aren't on your schedule this year.

New refs, new rules

The NBA is officially changing the rule for traveling, saying two steps are allowed instead of just one. So LeBron James's "crab dribble" wasn't cheating, it was forward thinking!

But seriously, the rule used to be one step, and the refs gave them 2.5. How many will they give them now that the rule is two? Three? Five? Will the NBA install those moving walkways that you see in airports?

Or maybe they're utilizing my speed limit philosophy: increase all speed limits by 25 percent, round down to the nearest multiple of five, and cops can feel free to ticket anyone going over the posted speed limit. As opposed to our current system in which the speed limit is the speed minimum and no one has any idea how fast they're actually allowed to go.

Okay, so change the traveling rule to two steps, but call it! I'm okay with that.

A rule that actually needs changing

The first inning of Game 1 between the Angels and Yankees reminded us why baseball needs to add a "team error" scoring to the rulebook. With a runner at second and two outs, Hideki Matsui hit a high pop fly on the infield. The third baseman and shortstop miscommunicated and let it fall between them, and the runner scored from second. This went in the box score as an RBI single. When you imagine a player hitting an RBI single in the playoffs, you don't exactly think of a high pop fly with two fielders standing underneath it. But because no one touched the ball, the official scorer couldn't assign an error.

It's simple: the Angels deserved to have an error counted against them, and Matsui didn't deserve a single nor an RBI. Solution: team error.

A good reason to buy a ball retriever

I've had some bad days on the golf course (and I mean BAD), but none were this bad.

Harden and Heilman staying put

says Bruce Levine.

If the Cubs could have gotten a couple top prospects from the Twins, it would have been well worth it, in my opinion. But Twins GM Bill Smith was presumably (and understandably) leery about giving up top prospects for what could have turned out to be a five-week rental.

Getting absolutely anything for Heilman would have been worth it, but Brian Sabean must have made his way to his computer this morning and realized Heilman sucks.

Planting a (7) seed

Well, the Bulls couldn't quite pull off the upset over the Celtics, but they got some much needed experience for youngsters like Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas and even coach Vinny Del Negro. For Del Negro to match wits with Doc Rivers while Rose battled Rajon Rondo, Noah found ways to exploit his energy and contribute to a winning cause, and a team came together at the right time to nearly pull off something nobody expected--all in the most watched opening round series in NBA playoff history--well that just might be the start of something good.

Don't get me wrong, epic series or no, this was still a 41-41 team. And if Kevin Garnett had played in the series, the Bulls surely would have made a quick exit. But a banged up Celtics team gave the Bulls an opportunity to grow and build a foundation for next year. With a maturing Derrick Rose, a healthy Luol Deng, and some solid pieces in John Salmons, Brad Miller, Noah and others, the Bulls should be able to put the .500 mark in the rear view mirror and compete in the East. Their best opponent this year was often themselves, as they lacked intensity at times and had a tendency to lose focus. But the Bulls were 18-11 after the All-Star break, and they certainly showed some passion in the series against the Celtics, a series which I believe requires a warning to viewers who may be pregnant or nursing, or who have a heart condition.

The big question for now: What happens with Ben Gordon? He says he wants to be in Chicago, but has turned down contracts worth $50 million or more each of the last two offseasons. To sign Gordon, the Bulls would need to move payroll or risk entering luxury tax territory. John Paxson has some work to do over the next few months, but the Bulls provided their fans a level of excitement we haven't seen since the 20th century, and hopefully this experience planted a seed that will help them climb higher than the seven seed they attained this year.

Cubs win, but do they lose Zambrano?
The Cubs offense continued to produce Sunday in a 6-4 victory over the Marlins, their third in a row. It's the third time this season the Cubs have won three in a row--they'll go for a season-high four in a row Monday against the Giants. Dempster would love to get a win in game one of this short two-game set, because Tuesday the Cubs will face reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum.

Good news from Sunday? Derrek Lee hit another home run--a grand slam--and Fontenot added his fifth of the year. Lee's slam--which traveled over 400 feet to straightaway center--marked the first time he had homered in back-to-back games since last April15-16 versus the Reds. Soto also showed signs of breaking out of his early season slump, drilling a double off the wall in right, hitting a hard liner to center, and driving one deep to left center in the 8th.

But the bad news could be really bad: Zambrano laid down a beautiful bunt in the 5th inning but strained his left hamstring as he beat it out. If Zambrano has to go on the DL, expect to see a fill-in from Triple-A Iowa. It could be Randy Wells (eight career appearances), Jose Ascanio (six appearances out of the 'pen last year, 7.94 ERA), or Mitch Atkins (never appeared in majors).

So we await news on Zambrano's hamstring, and hopefully he won't miss much time. Zambrano has never gone on the DL for any type of leg problem.

MLB notes
-The Rays' Carl Crawford stole six bases against the Red Sox Sunday. That ties the modern major league record and it's just the fourth time the feat has been accomplished since 1900.

-Only two of the top 10 batting averages in the majors are held by National Leaguers (Carlos Beltran and Joey Votto).

-The Giants have scored just 82 runs in 23 games this year, though they still find themselves with a 12-11 record. They beat the Rockies Sunday 1-0 in 10 innings.