The Weak Ender

This chick really loves dudes who play periphery sports. This Dancing with the Stars vixen was allegedly hooking up speed-skater Apollo Ono last season. Now Formula One driver Helio Castroneves has broken off his engagement to be with this 19-year-old beauty. Hey, if that's the case, Formula One is going to be great next year with Ashley Judd running around in a wet T-shirt and this chick. Not bad. Manica Patrick, however, can't be too please about this.

Only one word of advice for Helio, be careful if some water polo player shows up on next season's show. Or Matt Leinart.

BTW, the plan here was to lean on Diane, but here is an observation of Dancing with the Stars after catching about 30 minutes of the final. Namely, how are all of these partners not doing it? Other than Marie Osmond who seems to really enjoy the company of her brother, and Mark Cuban who acts like he would prefer a male partner. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) Seriously you ask these dudes to spend eight hours a day dancing with beautiful women and you expect nothing to happen?

Let's move on to the real sports.

PACKERS GO DOWN
Anybody else feel that the Packers were better off when Brett Favre went down? He clearly hasn�t gotten over the yips of playing in Texas Stadium. Aaron Rodgers looked like a seasoned veteran leading the Packers back, but Favre looked like a rookie out there. That kind of puts a damper on a potential NFC Championship match.

The Packers still look like one of two top teams in the NFC, despite the loss. Maybe the Buccaneers or Seahawks could emerge as a darkhorse contender for the NFC, but both teams have some pretty big flaws.

• BTW, how stoked were bars carrying the NFL Network last night? The Shore House is typically as stoic as Bud Grant's living room during NFL games. But last night's crowd was somewhat electric. Maybe the NFL is on to something forcing people out of their homes to go watch a game.

SEAN TAYLOR
How is it that the WWF gets so much grief when they have performers die early. Yet the NFL has two players gunned down in less than a year, and nobody is making that big of a deal out of it.

Sure, you have some of the insincere �This puts it all in perspective� nonsense that you normally get, but the show still goes on. The NFL spends time and money supporting causes like breast cancer (which is worthwhile), but nobody seems to be too worried about players dieing in the streets or even in their own home.

The league has so many sponsorship initiatives, too bad none of them are designed to help its players succeed in life. The NFL doesn�t seem too different from the WWF in terms of treating its performers like circus animals.

• A moment of silence and a No. 21 decal for Taylor? That seemed a bit much. This was similar to the tribute that the NFL gave to Pat Tillman. The whole thing just seemed wrong. The tribute for Taylor seemed a little forced.
  

• Rex Grossman and Eli Messiah will face each other this week, each probably wishing they were the other guy. The Messiah probably wishes he didn�t have such an overbearing dill-hole of a father. Eli seems a lot like Emilo Estevez�s character in the Breakfast Club, wishing for an injury. Rex, on the other hand, probably wishes his last name was Manning so he would be given the benefit of the doubt at every turn. Is there any way this game could end in a tie?

• The Chargers will be at Kansas City this week, trying to avenge one of the worst losses of the season. Host San Diego lost to the Chiefs in Week 4 when Norv Turner ignored LT in the second half, with the Charges holding a 10-point lead. Look for the Chargers to give the ball to LT about 50 times, in a classic Turner overreaction move. Kind of like he would do with Stephen Davis in Washington.

• A fan this week suggested that the Chargers would be 6-5 with any coach in the NFL. And after watching Bill Belichick, you can�t agree with that. But to give the reader the benefit of the doubt, let�s again go with your basic NFL coach. The Chargers should be no worse than 7-4 right now, as the first game against Kansas City should have never happened. The Chargers also should have won one of the Packers and Vikings games (probably both), but that would push them up to 8-3. And really, what coach couldn�t have motivated this team to beat New England? Still, that�s a stretch, so we�ll rest at 8-3, where the Chargers should be right now. Not that it matters now anyway.

• Sure, Denver can�t stop anybody running the ball, but is there a bigger mismatch this week between Mike Shanahan and Coach Lunch Money? Shanny could probably bring Boise State to Oakland and find a way to win.

• Can�t wait for that thrilling Matt Moore vs. Trent Dilfer matchup as the Panthers play host to the 49ers. Good news for Moore, he doesn�t have to do much to become the best former Oregon quarterback since Dan Fouts.

AND FINALLY
Loss Miles continues to lose his mind. The embattled LSU coach claimed that the Tigers have not lost in regulation this season. And he�s right. Two losses to Kentucky and Arkansas have come in overtime.

At the same time, LSU hasn�t been able to put away two SEC curtain-jerkers in regulation. And that just seems worse.