The opinions on what to do with the three Tennessee players charged with armed robbery are coming in fast and furious. Many are demanding strong action, like kicking the players off the team. That may or may not be a little extreme, at least before they are officially found guilty, and it's also the exact opposite of what the victim wants.

Corey Zickefoose, one of the three victims of the armed robbery attempt, doesn't believe the players should be kicked off the team:
Continue to The Ultimate Fan

With Cris Collinsworth having moved on to announce Monday Night Football, the NFL Network rolled out its new announcing tandem in last night's game, Bob Papa and Matt Millen.

Millen, if you don't remember, was the Detroit Lions GM who amassed a horrible record and was chastised for poor drafts and picking too many wide receivers in the first round; particularly drafting busts who didn't always grasp the mental part of the game.

Well guess which player Millen gushed over every time the 49ers had the ball? Yep, Michael Crabtree.

You might think Millen would want to avoid frequent compliments on a rookie WR, especially one who held out well into the regular season, right? Nope. Millen seemed intent on breaking down Crabtree's strengths and repeatedly saying what great potential Crabtree has. Millen likely tried to draft him before the game and probably had to be reminded frequently by the NFL Network not to try and draft him while on air.

Now, to be fair, Millen was very complimentary of several players on both teams throughout the night, despite the sloppiness of the game, not just Crabtree. And also in his defense, he did finally get it right with his many WR picks when the Lions took Calvin Johnson in 2007. But still, he probably could have avoided lavishing quite so much praise on the upside of a young, but possibly troubled wide out.

Continue to Guess Who Matt Millen Liked Thursday Night?

Each week Studs & Duds will take a look at the best and worst match-ups from around the NFL and choose four players that could mean the difference between fantasy success or failure.

 

Based on the scoring system established by Yahoo!'s Flames and Lames, Studs and Duds just can't seem to get back to its winning ways. After going 3-5 in last week's picks, S&D's season record now stands at 33-39  Do you have some of your own Studs and Duds in mind? If so, put your picks and predictions (no explanation for picks necessary) in the comment section below and see if you can beat us at our own game.

Studs

Joe Flacco / QB / Baltimore Ravens- (vs. Browns) In his last game against Cleveland, Flacco threw for 342 yards and a touchdown. You can expect him to improve upon those numbers in week 10, as he'll likely throw for multiple scores. With the Browns allowing just under 30 points per game during their last three contests, it's not hard to imagine this being a high scoring day for Flacco and the Raven offense. If you're regular starter has a tough match-up this week and the former Delaware QB is available, then plug him in as it will definitely pay off.

 

Prediction: 29-37, 301 passing yards, 2 total touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 3 rushing yards

 

T.J. Houshmandzadeh / WR / Cincinnati Bengals- (vs. Cardinals) Houshmandzadeh was expected to be a top fantasy receiver this year, but has yet to live up to those expectations. He's only managed to reach 100 receiving yards once, and has only three touchdowns on the year. For those of you waiting for his breakout game, this week's match-up against Arizona's 28th ranked pass D is just what the doctor ordered. From here on out the Seahawks have a relatively easy schedule, so it's not hard to imagine Housh being a top 15 receiver the rest of the way.

 

Prediction: 10 receptions, 97 receiving yards, 1 touchdown

Continue to NFL Week 10 Fantasy Studs & Duds

And really, it is fantastic.

In 1970, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis threw a no-hitter while high on LSD. 29 years later, No Mas brilliantly animated his story for a whole new generation to enjoy. As Ellis would later recount:

"I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the (catcher's) glove, but I didn't hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters and the bases were loaded two or three times. The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. I started having a crazy idea in the fourth inning that Richard Nixon was the home plate umpire, and once I thought I was pitching a baseball to Jimi Hendrix, who to me was holding a guitar and swinging it over the plate. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me."

Without further ado:


Continue to Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No, Now In Animated Form

Chad Ochocinco is so good. How good is he? He's so good he's rewriting the NFL rulebook.
Continue to Ochocinco Is the Gift That Keeps on Giving

After a disappointing start to the season the New Orleans Hornets have fired coach Byron Scott. The move comes following Wednesdays 124-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns.  After winning the coach of the year award back in 2008, Scott started this year on the hot seat after a somewhat disappointing season that ended with an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.

ESPN's Marc Stein reports:

Hornets vice president of basketball Chad Shinn said accountability was the team's watchword over the summer -- and that the Hornets were not measuring up with Scott at the helm.

As for who will take over the reigns:

Scott will be replaced by general manager Jeff Bower, with Tim Floyd as his top assistant, the team said. Floyd formerly coached the Hornets and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA and most recently at USC.

Continue to Hornets Fire Coach Byron Scott

It's Week 10 and Gamblor is coming a day early with his prediction because this is the week that Thursday night games start up. I do have the NFL Network, but I also have mixed feelings on Thursday games.

On first thought, extra football to watch! Awesome! But then I look at most of the stink bombs on the schedule and realize I am going to spend three hours each week watching either one or two worthless teams besmirch the name of football. Also, it will cause two days of people talking about how their fantasy team is in trouble, or how they have a big lead based solely on one game. Listen, your matchup isn't settled because of what one player did or did not do, lets hold off on making judgments based on that, or at least hold off on talking about them all the time.

Last week I got back to winning and put that abysmal 3-10 record behind me. Unfortunately, thanks to the Packers, I lost my lock pick for just the second time thus far.

Last week: 8-5
Season: 67-61-1
Lock of the week: 7-2

Home team in CAPS

Bears (+3) over 49ERS

Don't get me wrong, the Bears are not very good. But the 49ers are just worse. Alex Smith is not the answer at QB. He has small hands, like circus folk, but as far as I know he doesn't smell like cabbage.

JETS (-7) over Jaguars

In the Jags last four games they barely beat the Chiefs and Rams and got blown out by two 2-6 teams. Also, they've worked on establishing themselves as one of the most boring teams in the NFL. Does anyone ever look at the TV schedule and say, "Oh boy, a Jaguars game!" No, not even the people in Jacksonville.

Broncos (-3.5) over REDSKINS (LOCK OF THE WEEK)

Um. What? I get that the Broncos have been soundly beaten the last two weeks, but the Redskins have been soundly beaten all season AND they'll be without Portis. I'll be at this game hoping to prove myself wrong, but LOCK OF THE WEEK.

Continue to Pay Homage to Gamblor - Week 10

Three freshman from the University of Tennessee football team were arrested early Thursday morning for attempted armed robbery. Per the AP:

Knoxville police say wide receiver Nu'Keese Richardson and defensive backs Janzen Jackson and Mike Edwards were arrested after the incident early Thursday.

The victims told police they were in a parked vehicle near Tennessee's campus when two men, one brandishing a handgun, approached. The suspects demanded whatever the victims had but left empty-handed when victims showed they had no money.

The suspects drove off with a third man in a Toyota Prius. Police located the car and the victims identified Richardson and Edwards.

Well, at least their getaway was environmentally friendly. From the incident report:

The victims stated that a black male then approached, wearing a black hoodie, brandished a black semi-auto handgun, opened the drivers door and stated, 'Give me everything you have.' The victims stated that a black male then exited from the passenger side of the Prius, wearing a black hoodie, walked around to the front passenger door of their car, opened it, and stated, 'Give us everything you've got.'  

"The victims stated that they all presented their wallets to the suspects and showed them that they did not have money.  The victims stated that a third black male then approached and told the other two black males, "We've got to go."  The victims then stated that the three got into the Prius and that it was last seen traveling southbound on Volunteer Blvd West.

" ... The victims positively identified Edwards and Richardson as the two who approached their vehicle and demanded everything."

But wait. How could the victims possibly recognize them as Tennessee football players. It was at night, they were wearing dark, hooded sweatshirts ...

A Volunteer TV News photographer on the scene captured the suspects while they were being identified. At least one of them wore a black University of Tennessee t-shirt with an orange Adidas logo and the phrase "impossible is nothing."

Oh.

Somewhere, right now, Lil Wayne is already in a recording studio, spittin' 30 bars about the whole incident.

Continue to Three Tennessee Football Players Arrested

I'm the guy who just yesterday posted about the possibility of Iverson making the All-Star team. I'm the guy who predicted every NBA's team record BEFORE the season started. I'm the guy who gets excited to check out Yahoo!'s "Absurdly Premature Playoff Picture" for the NFL. I'm the guy who loves ridiculously early predictions. If someone projected a medal count of the 2072 Olympics, I'd read it word for word. Who saw Texas seceding and taking the bronze in pole vaulting?? And as far as absurdly early forecasts go, it's tough to beat predicting the 2010 NCAA Tournament seedings.

The season began Tuesday night, so why not let the predictions begin? What else is Bracketologist Joe Lunardi going to do. But someone has upstaged Lunardi! Why just predict the brackets? Why not predict the outcomes as well. This is what Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports did.

Check out Joe Lunardi's first crack at Bracketology and Jeff Goodman's prediction of the entire 2010 bracket.

Keep up the good work boys!

Continue to November Madness

If you're like me you're going to Disney World on Thursday! you don't get the NFL Network. At this point it doesn't matter if it's the cable providers being stubborn or the NFL being greedy -- bottom line is that most people don't get the Network and they will be missing out on its slate of NFL Thursday/Saturday night games.

Their schedule begins tonight, with the Bears and 49ers. Both teams started out strong -- 3-1 -- but now the Bears have lost three of four and the 49ers have lost four in a row. It's almost a must-win for both of these teams to remain in the Wild Card picture. The 49ers still have a shot at the division if the Cardinals falter. What's especially promising for the 49ers is their last two games of the season are against the Lions and Rams. But what do I care, I actually AM going to Disney World tomorrow! Unfortunately, I won't be at the Happiest Place on Earth for the rest of the games slated for the NFL Network.

Here's a look at the other games you are probably going to miss this season:

11/19 - Dolphins @ Panthers - Two mediocre teams more likely fighting for draft position than playoff position.

11/26 - Giants @ Broncos - To this point they've lost a combined six games in a row. That's after both teams won their first five games. Maybe they will tie and continue choking away their hot starts.

12/3 - Jets @ Bills - In Week 6 the Jets rushed for 318 yards against the Bills and LOST. Now they'll be playing in Toronto where the Jets can gain 290 meters on the Bills and lose.

12/10 - Steelers @ Browns - It's cute when the Browns fans call this a rivalry.

12/17 - Colts @ Jaguars - It's a long way off but it's possible the Colts will be looking to improve to 14-0 on the season. But let's see if they get past the Patriots on November 15 before talking about all that.

12/19 - Cowboys @ Saints - It's a long way off but it's possible the Saints will be looking to improve to 14-0 on the season. But let's see if they get past the Patriots on November 30 before talking about all that. Whoa.

12/25 - Chargers @ Titans - Titans might be looking to play the spoiler. Can Vince Young's magic continue?

Continue to Quick! To the Local Sports Bar!