October Observations
Posted October 8, 2006, 9:18 PM ET

You gotta love October. The month provides something for every sports fan.

While the weather gets cooler and the leaves begin to change, the football weekends look and feel better already. The Major League Baseball Playoffs have already provided great storylines and drama. The Chase for the Cup takes us down the stretch and this weekend through Lowe's Motor Speedway. Midnight Madness is officially on the clock in Chapel Hill and Durham and the Bobcats have opened training camp, too. The Stanley Cup banner is up in the rafters in Raleigh and the NHL pucking brothers are already on the ice.

October rocks, and this leads us to my blog entry this week....

How crazy was this past weekend of sports?

I don't know what I enjoyed the most...watching the Dodgers get swept (again), or the Yankees $200-million dollar payroll experiment go up in flames, or the unending saga known as T.O. returning to Philly. Throw in an amazing conclusion at Talladega and great college and pro football games, and you get the picture....it was an awesome sports weekend.

Let's lead with baseball. As you know, there is only one team in sports that I openly root against....and that would be the Los Angeles Dodgers. I can't stand anything about them. But I will give them credit, they have the worst record in the playoffs of any team on the planet in the past 18 years. I loved watching the Mets wax their ass....and for the record, the Dodgers are now 1-12 in the postseason since the last time they were worth a crap back in the dark ages of 1988. Perennial loser Jeff Kent even hinted that the Dodgers played better than the Mets...what a joke. I hate LA.

How about the Yankees? What else can you say? You either love 'em, or hate them. Personally, I don't care one way or the other about the boys in pinstripes, but it was hilarious watching the Tigers eliminate the "greatest lineup in baseball history". I've got to hand it to Detroit, they know how to throw a victory party...I guess winning that WNBA title earlier this summer put everybody in a party mood in Motown.

Plus, let's be honest...I'm sure you heard every baseball expert on HYPE predict a Detroit Tigers-Oakland A's American League Championship Series. I think it is great that we have some new blood in the playoffs....as long as we can eliminate the Dodgers from wasting a playoff spot and extending their season by three games every now and then.

The college football weekend was entertaining, too. The big showdown in these parts involved the previously unbeaten Switzerland Demon Deacons. Jim Grobe is a terrific coach, and for a while on Saturday it looked like his Deacs were on the verge of their first 6-0 start since 1944. However, Tommy Bowden's worst nightmare was interrupted by a Clemson Tiger comeback that included a 24-0 fourth quarter rally in the damp conditions at Groves Stadium.

Another team in orange rallied in a conference road game, and that was the Tennessee Vols. Phil Fulmer's guys were on the verge of being blown out in the first half in Athens but rallied from a 24-7 deficit to beat georgia 51-33. In fact, the Vols became the second team in history to put more than "half-a-hundred" on the Sanford Stadium scoreboard (The first was some guy by the name of Spurrier back in the mid-90's). Both Clemson and Tennessee are probably looking back at an early one-point loss in their respective league games and wondering, "what if".

I know that Duke sucks, but how good can Alabama be? The Crimson Tide rallied late to beat the mighty Blue Devils in Tuscaloosa. That's brutal...but the Tide didn't have the worst football weekend in the state...that belonged to Auburn. Tommy Tuberville saw his national title (and possible SEC title) slip away by being upset at home by suddenly surprising Arkansas. The only guy more upset than Tuberville in the state of Alabama has to be Dale Earnhardt, Jr....and I will get to him in a minute.

I still think the ACC should trade Duke for East Carolina in football. Duke is an embarrassment and brings absolutely nothing to the table other than being the featured team at least a half dozen times on the lame ACC Game of the Week. The Pirates have a sense of pride about their program, can bring more TV viewers to the ACC Raycom/Jefferson-Pilot/Lincoln Financial/Showmars/Jiffy Lube Network, and would at least put people in the stands on road trips on Tobacco Road. The ACC needs a Duke for ECU straight-up trade in football...it will never happen, but it should. ACC Commish John Swofford had no problem raiding the Big East a few years ago, why not raid the CUSA while you're at it, too?

The only team that Duke can outdraw at the gate might be Miami...that's right, you heard me...the Hurricanes. How bad is it in Coral Gables? The Hurricanes had more planes flying over the Orange Bowl carrying banners wanting to fire their coach than they had people in the stands for their game against equally inept UNC. For the record, the Miami/UNC game had an announced crowd of 29,621. The ACC should feel great about the Sunshine state, both Florida State and Miami are out of this week's Top 25...that is the first time in 24 years that the Noles and Canes are both out of the Top 25 at the same time.

Leave it to Davis Love III to win the GGO, or whatever they are calling the PGA Tour stop in Greensboro these days. I've got to be honest with you, I'm still amazed that DL-3 has only won one major championship in his career. I like jumping on Lefty all the time, but DL-3 has been a classic underachiever. Lefty's career highlights make DL-3 look like Loren Roberts. Watching Love win the GGO seems about right....watching him be a factor in the majors or the Ryder Cup would be asking too much.

The Panthers put me to sleep on Sunday afternoon. That's not hard to do when you're playing the Browns....the dreary Sunday afternoon and equally drowsy CBS broadcast made for a great nap. The good news is that the next three weeks on the Panthers' schedule is the real deal. The Cats three-game winning streak will be put to the test with trips to Baltimore, Cincinnati and then a home date with those Cowboys. It is time for the Panthers to jump right back into the Super Bowl talk, by playing and winning like a Super Bowl team.

Speaking of the Cowboys, wasn't it great watching the Eagles beat Dallas? I really don't have a dog in the fight with either team, but I'm so tired of T.O.....the only thing more aggravating than T.O. is the coverage of T.O. Surely, CBS, NBC, FOX and ESPN can find something more interesting than Terrell Owens.

Finally, the most exciting event of the weekend was in NASCAR. The racing at Talladega is always entertaining and this Sunday was no exception. If you didn't see the last lap, you owe it to yourself to find a highlight. It looked like everybody's favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., had positioned himself for not only the win, but also a chance to jump right back in the Chase Championship with a first-place finish.

The only problem is that he was taken out of the race by being wrecked alongside Jimmie Johnson entering turn three of the final lap. Johnson was bumped by his own teammate, Brian Vickers (albeit for another 6 weeks). It was Vickers' first win of his career and one that he will never forget....that also goes along for every Dale Jr. fan that will boo Vickers for the remainder of his career.

It was great drama, great television and perfect for NASCAR with one exception....the sport could really gain another jolt of attention if the Budwesier #8 car and driver won the championship. Needless to say, the race for the championship is tight, and the Nextel Cup guys head to Charlotte this weekend.

I can't wait to get there, and I'm sure the Dale Jr. fans can't wait to welcome Brian Vickers to Lowe's Motor Speedway, too.

Like I stated earlier....October rocks.