What I see and hope to see.
*Rangers in 6. ESPN's Buck Showalter (on loan from MASN) thinks Texas might do it in 5. (Predictions before game 1, ouch!)
*Mike Bordick and Bill Ripken back in the Orioles organization? Why not. Both knowledgeable, gritty and excellent teachers.
*The Ravens kick return game, as weak as it's ever been in the teams 15 year history.
*Nine points in the first quarter and 30 points in the first half in the debut of LeBron's dream team. Not once all of last season did Miami score 9 or less in the first quarter or 30 or less in the first half.
*How popular is NFL football? In New England last week's Patriots game did double the audience of the Celtics opening night win over the Heat. In Miami, last Sundays Dolphins game did a 20.7 rating compared to a 15.5 for the Heat's opener. The third biggest audience for the Heat-Celtics opener? Cleveland, where they were watching for all the wrong reasons.
*Former Raven Troy Smith gets the start Sunday when the 49ers meet Denver. Some 85,000 fans expected at London's Wembley Stadium. This reminds me of one of my all-time favorite NFL quotes.
Linebacker Channing Crowder who played in London with the Dolphins three years ago, made this statement a few days before the game. "I didn't know until Tuesday that people in London speak English."
It gets even better. More Channing chatter "I couldn't find London on a map if they didn't have the names of the countries," Crowder said. "I swear to God. I don't know what nothing is. I know Italy looks like a boot. I learned that.
"I know (Washington Redskins linebacker) London Fletcher. We did a football camp together. So I know him. That's the closest thing I know to London. He's black, so I'm sure he's not from London. I'm sure that's a coincidental name."
FYI Channing Crowder was a student-athlete with the Florida Gators.
*Jen Sterger and a mangled ankle are testing Brett Favre's streak. 292 consecutive regular season games, 316 including playoffs, spanning 18 years. It started on September 27th, 1992.
The week before Favre took over for an injured Don Majkowski. Down 17-3 to the Benglas in the 4th quarter, Farve threw 2 TD passes, the game winner a 35 yard strike came with 13 seconds left . A Hall of Fame Iron man was born.
*Congratulations to the 2010 National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Class that will be inducted Saturday night in Hunt Valley. Scott Bacigalupo (Princeton '94), Francesca Den Hartog (Harvard '83), Michael Burnett (North Carolina '83), Eleanor Keady Gaffney (U.S. Womens National Team), Mac Ford (North Carolina '85), Bonnie Rosen (Virginia '92), Jack Kaley(New York Tech coach), Mary McCarthy Stefano (Penn State '87).
* What I hope not to see. Jeremy Conn's mustache. His stache is trash!
