The Weak Ender

Would you rather take "sloppy seconds" from Sean Avery or the Raiders?

Has the NHL completely overreacted to Avery's comments? (For those of you who don't know, Avery said that former girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert was just sloppy seconds for other NHL players who are now dating her. And the first person to make an Alyssa Milano joke dies. Looking at you RJ.)

Chargers fans are getting it much worse with the Raiders "sloppy seconds," Norv Turner. As expected, the Chargers pulled off their one miracle win over the Raiders to justify Turner's job and get everybody excited for next season. Much like the Eagles did with a win over the Cardinals on Thursday night.

What's so funny is that nearly every NFL pundit is willing to make excuses for Turner. Hell, the entire NFL Network pregame show was making excuses for him. Well, except for Warren Sapp. Not that you were able to watch the Super Bowl-like pregame show. (Seriously, do we need a six-hour build up to a couple of washed out AFC West teams?)

The former Raiders defensive tackle said that Turner was a bad coach, his teams never practiced the 2-minute drill and that Noxema Turner couldn't motivate Chris Simon to make racial slurs. (THN is bringing the hockey references today.) And yet, all of the other analysts on the Algonquin Round Table completely ignored his comments. Nobody would even address it. Sapp is a former player who recently played for Turner. He might be full of (expletive) most of the time, but he's spot on here.

What really will be amazing is just how many years Turner will end up wasting in San Diego. LaDainian Tomlinson will continue to head South in 2009, likely buying another year for the coach who will again use it as an excuse.

But now the Chargers are at the level they were a few years ago where a season's success can be measured on how many times they beat the Raiders. And with another sweep, there is at least some cause for a minor celebration.

• If it was any other team, I'd swear they threw the game in order to save Norv's job. But that was the Raiders trying their hardest to get over on a former coach. That's how hard they would play against Tennessee.

• Diane made note that she would welcome Bill Cowher to San Diego next year. Who wouldn't? But remember, Cowher's mentor was Marty Schottenheimer. Do you think he would want to coach for A.J. Smith? The only way would be if Smith is fired.

• The Birds have a chance to wrap up the NFC West. This still smells like a trap game. Kurt Warner should throw for 500 yards and six touchdowns, but there is something about the Cardinals that won't let you feel comfortable. Thankfully, the GA picks are in, or I'd end up talking myself into taking the St. Louis FC. Can't do it.

• The Steelers are a pretty good team, but not desperate enough to take out the Cowboys. Again, another switch I'd make if I didn't have to finish my picks by Tuesday night. Tony Romo seems like he has a bad fantasy matchup, but remember, Gomer lit up the Steelers for three touchdowns without a running game earlier this year. The Steelers seem to be a product of playing bad quarterbacks. Matt Schaub, Eli Messiah, Joe Flacco, Ryan Fitzpatrick and even Philip Rivers. Not many of those quarterbacks will be sunning themselves in Hawaii in February unless they are paying their own way.

• Punch yourself in the face if you want to see Browns at Titans. Or New England at Seattle.

• If Detroit is going to sneak in a victory, it will be this week against the cheating Vikings. Having Kevin Williams and Pat Williams appeal their suspension just to lose to the Lions would be a perfect ending to this story. Well, that and the Bears catching and passing them for the NFC North title.

• The Washington Huskies have hired Steve Sarkisian to run the program after interviewing the Texas Tech coach for the job. Uh, why did they make that move? Maybe Coach Leach could stick around and run the Seahawks offense next season. Seems like a strange hire for Washington, but hopefully it works out.

• How about Mike Sanford leaving his UNLV gig to be offensive coordinator at USC? The NCAA probably wouldn't allow that. USC is already too good as it is.

• Alabama will beat Florida. Book it.

• Texas realizes that it lost to Texas Tech, right? Quit whining. USC should play for the national championship if Oklahoma loses.

AND FINALLY
There is a lot of controversy with USC wearing its home cardinal against UCLA on Saturday. People, you need to get over this. Had USC sprung this on UCLA and run out of the tunnel in cardinal after warming up in white uniforms, then yes, that would have been arrogant and disrespectful.

Instead, Pete Carroll has given some life to a game that did not have any before this all came out. College football fans should be enjoying this, instead of finding ways to take shots at Carroll.