The Weak Ender

Hef's girlfriend Kendra Wilkinson was rumored to be engaged to Eagles receiver Hank Baskett earlier this week. Thankfully, Kendra was able to clear up the mess on her Myspace page.

"hiiiiii just wanna let yall know that i am not engaged! if i was id be very happy though n i wouldnt hide it..hahahahaha!!!!! rumors are sooooooooo (expletive) funny. yaa trickk yaaaaaa lololol!! Love is a beautiful thing n i think the world needs more of it. lol.."

Who knew that her writing could make you long for her annoying laugh? When you learn that the love between Hef and Kendra is anything but real, it makes you feel like a Trojans fan who just found out that his team was not going to win the national championship this year. Or that those reporters on TMZ are actually actors.

Actually, here's a pretty interesting find. Jean-Robert Bellande who was a contestant on Survivor: China was actually recruited to be on the show. The recent World Series of Poker telecasts revealed that Survivor wanted Daniel Negreanu to be on the show. Hope that puts to rest any disbelief that Danny was a plant during Gary Hogeboom's season. Like a radio talk show host from Kansas City would recognize a former Colts quarterback.

FAVRE VS. THE MACHINE
The Jets will wear their Titans throwback uniforms on Sunday. Oh joy. This will give some of the hacks such as Chris Berman the chance to make jokes such as, "Brett is so old, he wore these uniforms during his rookie season."

And then laughter will erupt in the studio. Those old jokes won't get, well, old at all.

(NFL.com got a jump on the old jokes, however.) Awesome stuff.

• The Warner Machine is easily one of the bright spots in a dreary NFL season so far. The league just seems to be floundering, with Tom Brady out, the Colts and Chargers drifting listlessly and nobody really capturing the imagination. The Broncos could be a team to watch, if they could ever stop anybody. Right now, the league looks as though it has a case of the Mondays.
  

• At least there are the Raiders, though. Can the Lane Kiffin saga carry us through?

• Does LaDainian Tomlinson seem like an old man or what? He looks like he is still a step slow, and that toe injury still must be bothering him. Tomlinson has destroyed the Raiders during his career. If he can't get going against the Raiders this week, then there should be cause for concern.

• Antonio Cromartie will likely have to do without making an interception this week as JaMarcus Russell figures to continue his pass-throwing boycott this week.
  

• This week's slap yourself in the face if you want to watch these games: Cleveland at Cincinnati; Atlanta at Carolina; and a whole lot of others that are close. Talking about you Buffalo at St. Louis. That game only is interesting because St. Louis is taking aim at Tampa Bay's 0-14 mark. Lee Roy Selmon and the rest of the 1976 Buccaneers have to be getting nervous.
  

• Kansas City is going to put a rookie cornerback on Brandon Marshall. Good luck with all of that. Maybe it's time to sell off Tony Gonzalez, Chiefs to further the rebuilding. How about a Gonzalez for Matt Leinart deal? But deadline deals never seem to happen in the NFL.
  

• How bad has your life become when you need to look up to Kerry Collins for inspiration? So when do we get to see Vince Young stroll out of a court house smoking a cigar? (Easily one of the best images of the NFL in the 1990s.) BTW, has anybody noticed that the Titans are 3-0? Or that Collins has thrown for 35,000 yards in his career? There was a time in the NFL when 25,000 was magical number to get a quarterback in the Hall of Fame.

• When is the Matt Schaub era going to take off? Mike Vick has had a better post-Falcons career than Schaub.

• Frank Gore looks to become the latest player to notch 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards ... in one game when he plays the Saints this week.
  

• Brian Griese makes only his second start of the season, but he has only one less pass attempt than pass-happy Aaron Rodgers. Oh, and long live the battle of the bays!

• Want to make some money this weekend? The Redskins will beat the Cowboys. Don't feel like you need to share the wealth. But I prefer Dos Equis if you are buying.

• You might want to sit down before you read this. But Donovan McNabb is hurt again. Yeah, if he's hurting, it must be serious.
  

COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS
USC's annual tank job can a bit earlier than expected, which means a huge shakeup in the polls. More importantly, how far up does BYU jump? Will they be ahead of the Trojans after this weekend? The Cougars have a bye this week, so it will be interesting to see where they end up. But before we get too excited about the Cougars, remember that games against TCU and Air Force will be on the road this season. Maybe even more daunting than the Utah game mentioned here last week.

• Most teams likely celebrated USC's upset loss on Thursday night except for the Pac-10, which just saw extra millions in BCS revenue evaporate. And then there's Ohio State, who looks even worse now. But while all of you teams outside of the conference laugh at USC, realize that it's only conference teams who beat the Trojans. (And you, Vince Young.) Laugh all you want, Big Ten, but now you have another date with humiliation on Jan. 1.
  

• What's the world coming to when college cheerleader outfits are deemed too revealing?
  

• Does UCLA respond to the challenge this week, or does Fresno State come down and snot-kick the Bruins all over the field? Take the Bulldogs. Pac-10 teams only seem to care when they are playing USC. Otherwise they seem content to tank the season.

AND FINALLY
Joe Torre was left out of the Yankees tribute this week. What happened, was there not enough time to fit him in during the 12-hour broadcast? No matter. While The Hater Nation doesn't much care for the Dodgers, there is something funny about Torre leading his new team to the playoffs (his 13th consecutive year in the postseason), while the Yankees will languish out of the playoffs.

Too bad Torre doesn't rap, or flow, or free style or whatever the kids are calling it these days.