Sunday tidbits at The Confluence

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. However, perhaps it's time to stop one of those Thanksgiving traditions, that being the Lions playing on it. Although a lot of times the Lions play better on Thanksgiving than on other gamedays, it's getting a little ridiculous. Speaking of ridiculous, rumors are flying that Matt Millen may be finally out of a job. Better late than never, I always say.

So not only did 70 million homes not receive the Broncos/Chiefs game on Thursday night, due to their cable system not carrying the NFL Network, now we find out that even some of those that do have the channel did not show the game, due to the fact that the NFL added on another surcharge for showing live NFL games. Thanks to ProFootballTalk.com for the link. Are we that far away from Pay-per-view NFL games ??

If you want to watch what's known as a "slobberknocker", watch Steelers/Ravens today. The Steelers rivalry with the Ravens has easily supplanted the Browns rivalry in recent years, and today's matchup looks to be no different.

With six weeks still left to go before the NFL playoffs, it's still way too early to speculate on teams that are in and those that are out. We are at the point, however, that those who are on the outside looking in, have little to no room for error (you listening, Pittsburgh ??)

USC sure as hell made a big statement that they deserve a shot at the title after their convincing win vs. Notre Dame yesterday. I still think that Michigan is the better of the two teams, but who knows, the computer rankings may just boost USC up to #2.

Let's just see how good the Bears really are today, and if they can beat New England, they've gone up a rung on my ladder.

So much for discipline when it comes to MLB free agents. Carlos Lee gets 100 million for 6 years. Slap hitter Juan Pierre gets 45 million for 5 years, 14 million for 3 years for Alex Gonzalez, 18 million for 4 years for Justin Speier.

So where does that leave the Buccos ?? Absolutely nowhere, apparently. When the offseason started, the Bucs priorities were a left-handed power bat, a right-handed starter, and a couple other ham-n-eggers. Naturally, those commodities aren't going to fall in Dave Littlefield's lap. So, the general consensus was that he'd have to part with one of his 4 young starting pitchers (most likely Gorzelanny or Maholm) or one of the closers. However, now we're reading from Dejan's column today that apparently good 'ol Dave feels it's unlikely that he'll trade any of the starters. Just what the hell do you plan on doing Dave, do a "Malkin" and hold prospective free agents hostage in your office until they sign a contract ?? Aw, that's OK, just keep the bobbleheads and fireworks coming, it's all good on the bottom line, isn't it.

Had to love the thugery at the end of the Caps/Thrashers game the other night. They wanted rivalries, they got it. But even if they don't modify the schedule to have all NHL teams play each other every year, they've got to do something about teams playing each other 3 times in two weeks. Talk about overkill.

You'd have to consider the Maple Leafs as overachievers so far this season, although they did open their Canadian wallets up some more in the offseason. But that's OK, I'm sure when the springtime comes, they'll fold like they've always done. Don't feel bad, Leafs fans, I'm sure that 40th anniversary party for not winning the Stanley Cup will be a doozy.

Don't look now, but those teams that were getting snickered at early in the year, like Ottawa, Boston, and Philly, are quickly playing much better.

Early NHL voting shows Crosby and Ovechkin #1 and #2 among Eastern Conference forwards, with Malkin at #7 right now. Count me as among those who'd love to see a line with those 3 guys on it.