Top of the Brain: Thursday

Here’s what bouncing around my brain on this Wednesday night … and draining into Thursday morning …  (sorry, just couldn’t come up with any better introduction than that).

Crazy Opening NFL Weekend – We couldn’t have really asked for much more in an opening weekend. The defending-champion Packers looked great in beating the Saints at Lambeau on Thursday. The Ravens defended home turf by absolutely destroying the Steelers (a massive surprise, actually). The up-and-coming-Lions beat the young Bucs in Tampa. Mike Vick and the Eagles whooped the Rams, and in the process put half the team on the injury list. Tom Brady put up 500+ on the helpless Fins. Oh yeah, and the Chiefs got steamrolled at home by the Bills of all teams.

Injuries Galore – In the NFL’s grand wisdom, I guess they don’t think professional football players need much of an offseason anymore. No rookie camp, no mini-camps, no OTAs … no problem, they say. Well, the insane rash of injuries suffered by players scattered all across the league sends an entirely different message. Players (and their bodies) do need the extra work and conditioning and preparation to get ready for the pounding of the NFL season. And let’s hope the reduction of training camp practices and the elimination of two-a-days don’t make this into a trend for future seasons.

Cards Making A Charge – We don’t talk baseball much here on MTSS, but the St. Louis Cardinals are trying to make the NL Wildcard interesting. They have pulled into 4.5 games of the Braves with a recent mini-charge to the finish line, but I just don’t know if they have enough gas left in the tank to pull it off. And Matt Holliday’s recent bizarre hand injury doesn’t help. About the only drama left is whether Albert will get to .300/30/100 again this season, and if Tony can do enough here at the end to warrant being asked back for 2012. Let’s hope not.

Bad Weekend for Missouri Football – I’m not sure the weekend for football fans in Missouri could have been much worse. Mizzou plays at Arizona State on Friday night, gets outclassed for three quarters and then loses in OT. The Chiefs host the laughable Buffalo Bills (4-12 last year) and get trounced at home. And the Rams stumble and fall and get hurt throughout a winnable game against the supposedly high-powered Eagles. Three good teams. Three winnable games. Three losses. I hope we don’t have to get used to this again.

Jaws Drops S-Bomb – And finally, a word or two on the ridiculous circus that erupted in the sports media after ESPN Broadcaster Ron Jaworski drops a barely discernable “sh**” during the Monday Night Football game. It was silly really … the reaction, that is. Mixed in among scantily-clad cheerleaders, Bud Light and Viagara commercials, and guys beating each other’s brains in is this teeny tiny barely-noticeable drop of the S-Bomb. Seriously … that’s a big deal? Come on, people. Most kids hear worse than that at the dinner table.

As always, I’d love to hear your take on any of these stories or something else you think is more interesting. Until next time, thanks for reading.

Steve