Random Sampling
Posted September 18, 2005, 9:41 PM ET

I have some thoughts after checking out the wacky weekend of sports.

The NFL games were bizarre on Sunday. There were eight "early" games that kicked-off at 1pm...of those games, all but one were determined by double digits or more. That is very uncharacterisitc of the NFL - where most games are determined by 4 points or less...but check this out:

The winning margins of the early games were 7, 10, 15, 16, 20, 29, 32 and 39 points. That looks more like the winning margins by the USC Trojans against the Pac 10, not the National Football League.

The Carolina Panthers won a huge game on Sunday, beating up on the two-time world champion New England Patriots. It was good to finally see the defensive side attack an opponent...it has been long overdue. The Panthers' Ken Lucas was outstanding and it was great to see rookie Thomas Davis collect his first sack of the season.

I know the Panthers paid a small fortune to resign linebacker Dan Morgan, but Will Witherspoon (unsigned) is making plays all over the field...I sure hope Hurney and Fox can find a way to keep him in Charlotte.

Last season, every team that started at 0-2 missed out in making the playoffs. If that trend continues, there will be some bigtime teams that will be home for the playoffs...they include the Vikings, Packers, Cardinals, Ravens and Chargers. In fact, it is the first time ever that both the Vikings and Packers started a season with 0-2 marks.

Monday night, the Redskins play the Cowboys...remember when that game used to mean something?

I don't know about you, but I love the Buffalo Bills' retro jerseys.

The Major League Baseball regular season ends in two weeks (thank God), and the races are great in the American League...not to mention both Wild Card races.

In the American League, the division leaders are the Red Sox (up 1.5 over the Yankees)...the White Sox (up 3.5 over Cleveland), and LA Angels (2 up on Oakland).

The Indians are up 1.5 games on the Yankees in the wild card race...Can you believe the Yankees can spend over $200 million on their payroll and still fall short in making the postseason?

The Braves and Cardinals are in control in their National League divisions and the Padres could win the West with a sub .500 record...how embarrassing is that?

The Wild Card race is outstanding with Houston up 1 game coming down the stretch.

Did anybody see Donald Trump sing the Green Acres theme song during the Emmy Awards?...A classic.

Ryan Newman won his first race this season on the Nextel Cup series and moved up 7 places in the Chase for the Cup...somehow that seems about as fair as the Padres securing a playoff spot with a losing record.

Did anybody catch Robby Gordon ripping Michael Waltrip during the race from New Hampshire?...He blurted out a no-no according to NASCAR Nation when he said that Waltrip was not a good guy..."he is a piece of s#*@!" The boys back in the TNT studios were sound asleep with the delay dump button...Bill Weber apologized immediately for the slip.

College football in the South was outstanding over the weekend, but it seemd like there was a lot of apologies taking place in the Carolinas.

Steve Spurrier apologized to the Gamecock faithful for the performance of his team against Bama. Spurrier said, "we were terrible and it was sad to watch"...that's an understatement.

UNC quarterback Matt Baker apologized for the Tar Heels' lack of offense in a 14-5 loss to Wisconsin. It has been a long time since UNC fans and coaches have watched a solid defensive performance get ruined by zero offense.

The Clemson-Miami game was incredible...it is good to see the Death Valley returning back as one of the great venues to watch a game in college football. Don't you know Tiger quarterback Charlie Whitehurst would love to have that third down pass to Chaci Stuckey over again with under 20 seconds to go...It was a critical win for the Canes, as they could not afford to start 0-2 for the first time since 1978.

All three Sunshine State schools (Miami, FSU and Florida) played well in the second half of their big weekend games. All three controlled the final half in pulling out wins...and the Canes, Noles and Gators should all be beasts by the end of the year.

Florida's win over Tennessee was the biggest in the career of Chris Leak. The kid is a class act.

Even though I'm not a big fan of Notre Dame football...I like Charlie Weis and I like the way he handles himself. He's got the Irish headed in the right direction, despite the OT loss to Michigan State. By the way, that's the fifth straight win for the Spartans over ND in South Bend...isn't it time for the Irish to eliminate Michigan State from the schedule the way they did with Boston College and Miami?

I love College Gameday on HYPE...but they have added too many faces and voices...they need to get back to basics...Fowler, Corso and Herbstreit.

How much pressure will be on Chuck Amato, if the Wolfpack gets upset by the Tar Heels this week?

Can the Trojans score 20 points a game against an NFL team?...I think so.

I can't wait until the weekend...make it a good week.