The Weak Ender

Hockey season has started. Seriously. It started on Wednesday or something. Typically, that would lead to numerous attempts at humor like, "Hey it is hockey season again, and it is time to start ignoring it again." But something worse happened.

People forgot.

For real.

It is one thing to be the butt of jokes, but hockey has slipped so far off the national consciousness that nobody can even bother to joke about it. It's kind of sad, too. As a high schooler, it was cool to go to the Forum to take advantage of $5 student tickets. (Though it would have been cooler to have been liked by girls.) And then Wayne Gretzky arrived and your couldn't get a hockey ticket. Now, the LA Times won't even staff away games. But buck up hockey fans, you still have Elisha Cuthbert and Erin in Ottawa, so it's not all bad.

• It looked like T.O. picked the wrong week to not O.D. on drugs. Outside of a lover's spat over a missed text message, this week has been pretty tame. It is kind of a letdown. Paris Hilton and Shanna Moakler have a better feud going. Hopefully the Eagles fans will do something so perverse, that it will redeem the lack of action this week. The Eagles fans have long prided themselves on being worse human beings than Raiders fans (if that is possible), so let's see if that is true.
  
  The THN pick: Dallas. Donovan McNabb still seems to have trouble getting over the hump in big games. Losing three NFC Championship Games is evidence of this. As is losing (his lunch)in a Super Bowl. McNabb only won an NFC Championship Game when T.O. was on the team. True, T.O. missed that game, but he changed the attitude of the Eagles from hapless losers to winners, whether he was on the field or on the sidelines.

• It's time for the Steelers fans to take over Jack Murphy Stadium again. Way to represent San Diego. But you know why the Chargers fans never take over Heinz Field? No self-respecting person would ever move from San Diego to Pittsburgh. Enjoy the sun, Steelers fans.
  
  The THN pick: It is hard to imagine the defending champions starting 1-3, especially coming off a bye. It is not hard to imagine the Chargers and Martyball starting at 2-2.

• MLB Jennifer made a great point the other day. Isn't it ironic that the guy who is partly responsible for the Angels not making the playoffs just shutout the Padres. It is ironic. Who knew that Bill Stoneman had so much left in his arm?

• J.J. Manning loves Cowgirl. When asked for his most memorable moment of the past four years when it came to FSU, Redick smiled and responded without hesitation, "Jenn Sterger." Well, you knew it couldn't have been any of his NCAA appearances. (And you should applaud the restraint for this not being the top story of TWE. But word is, she is answering questions in The Hater Nation Forums.)

• The college picks have been on fire lately. In other words, heed this advice at your own risk. The call for Saturday includes Washington (+19), Tennessee (-2) and Boise State (-36). But try to wait for the Broncos line to fall a bit, but don�t worry, they will beat Louisiana Tech by 50.

• Shaq does not like the new NBA basketball because it will make it tougher to shoot. If there is any player in the NBA who will be effected the least, it will be Shaq. What, is it going to hurt his free throw percentage?

AND FINALLY
It seems that nobody is really coming to the defense of Albert Haynesworth, the head stomping fool of the Tennessee Titans. It is pretty bad when Keyshawn Johnson is the voice of reason.

"I would have asked for him to be kicked out of the league permanently. Even if I was his teammate I would ask that he was kicked out of the league. I don't want any idiots on our team that would embarrass themselves. If they want to fight then go do Ultimate Fighting. They have a sport where you are allowed to kick someone in the face and it's not football." Yeah, if UFC was real.

And lord knows Keyshawn would never do anything stupid, on or off the field. Nor would he write a book about it.