SCOTT JACOBS

And so it begins.  Again.  Thursday Night football on the NFL Network.

The game of the week that you most likely won’t be watching.  Not by choice though.  Probably because you don’t have it.  But have no fear.  For tonight’s Denver-Cleveland tussle marking Brady Quinn’s first ever start as a Brown, will at least be able to be seen live on your Sprint mobile phone.  And bits and pieces will be on display on NFL.com.  And if you live in Cleveland or Denver, the good folks at NFL Network will broadcast your game locally.  Otherwise, good luck, good grief, and enjoy the game that you can’t see.

Why?

Because there is still no deal with Comcast or any big cable provider for that matter to bring NFL Network to your living room.  Don’t look at me, I didn’t do it.

Luckily, this year’s slate of games doesn’t look all that appetizing.  No Packers-Cowboys fiasco, and no perfect season on the last day type of deal is going to impede NFL fans this year.

The rundown:

Week 10: Broncos at Browns
Week 11: Jets at Patriots
Week 12: Bengals at Steelers
Week 13: Cardinals at Eagles (Thanksgiving)
Week 14: Raiders at Chargers
Week 15: Saints at Bears
Week 16: Colts at Jaguars
Ravens at Cowboys (Saturday)

Sorry guys, I was only trying to help.  Okay, as it turns out, there’s some real gems on this year’s slate.  Tonight’s Broncos-Browns tilt features the free falling AFC West leaders from Denver clashing with the Cleveland ‘couldn’t contend with all those expectations’ Browns, who are stuck in third place in the AFC North behind a much improved Ravens team and the always steady Steelers.  But from there is where it gets very interesting.

Next week’s Jets-Patriots offers us a key AFC East game that we can’t watch.  Terrific!  As of now those two are tied in a three way scramble with the Bills for AFC East supremacy.  All three are 5-3, and don’t forget about the Dolphins, who are 4-4 and play Seattle and Oakland at home these next two weeks.  For those who do get NFL Network, you should be treated to a good one.

We’ll skip Bengals-Steelers, because now that the Bengals have a win, they’re not interesting at all anymore.  So, we’ll chalk up a nice win there for the Terrible Towels.

Which brings us to Thanksgiving, and a bold Cardinals-Eagles matchup, which is looking juicier by the minute.  Both the Cards and Eagles are 5-3 and that could be a huge game for playoff positioning.  Yup, not a typo, the Cardinals should have the NFC Worthless division locked up by then.  But who knows.  Nevertheless, this looks like a potential playoff matchup too.  Funny, considering the Cards and Eagles once played one of the worst, most horrifyingly bad games on national TV in a Sunday Night game what now feels like eeons ago.  If only I could remember the year!

How bad is the AFC West?  Well, Oakland’s trip to San Diego week 14 could come with playoff ramifications.  How you ask, after the Falcons slaughtered Oakland 24-0 dropping the Faders to 2-6?  Well, the Chargers, sitting at 3-5, are in second place.  And the afformentioned Broncos are first.  Thus, the unbelievable scenario that the Raiders could string together a few wins and contend for the division isn’t unfeasible. Borderline unbelievable, yes.  But impossible, no.  Thus, this game could, dare I say it, put the Raiders in position to maybe contend for a division title (I just laughed so hard I think I peed a little)…

Saints at Bears the next week looks like another interesting matchup.  It’s a rematch from their exciting 2006 NFC Title game matchup, and both teams are holding their own this year.  The Saints are the most exciting 4-4 team in the sport, and the Bears are actually leading the NFC Norris, although no one expects that to last.  Will Rex Grossman or Kyle Orton be under center for this one?  It could go a long way in determining whether this game has a lot of importance or just a little.

When the NFL Network got a Colts-Jags matchup sealed for the last week of the season, the execs at NFLN had to be jumping up for joy.  A sure-fire heavyweight battle that could even determine the AFC South winner was on their plate.  Nothing could mess that up.  And then they started the season, and the Jags limped out to a disappointing road loss at Tennessee and haven’t recovered since.  Ditto for the Colts, who survived the Pats on Sunday by a hair.  Neither team has a winning record, and neither team looks destined for the playoffs.  O yeah, the Titans have that division sewn up already.  Only it’s just not official, yet.

Ravens-Cowboys is the last NFL Network game, and depending on a lot of different things, could be huge, could be meaningless, or could be somewhere in the middle.  If you’d told me that the Ravens (who were Miami’s lone win last year) would have a better record than the Cowboys right now I woud have probably called you crazy.  But it’s true.  At 5-3, the Ravens are in second in the North, just a game out of first, while the Cowboys are trapped in the cellar of a log-jammed NFC East that offers no breaks, just pain.

So that’s the rundown.  Wish you had NFL Network?  Yeah, me too.  Wish this mess got disputed?  Yeah, me too.  Wish TNT won the rights to these games a few year’s back and this never even became an issue?  Ditto.  But it didn’t.  And so, we’re stuck with live look ins, going blind from watching the games on our tiny phones, and hopelessly wondering when this retarded fight will cease to be.

Why are you doing this to us NFL?  What’d we do to you?

We supported your ridiculous ticket prices, memorabilia prices, we bought seat licenses, and painted our house your team’s colors.  We died a little inside when our team lost, and we bought Sunday Ticket by the bunches.  Yet, here we are, wondering why we’re getting screwed.  Why Big Brother doesn’t want us to see these games.

I can’t be the only one here.

NFL fans unite!

Rays win wild game two 9-8 in 11 crazy innings to tie their ALCS with Boston 1-1

SCOTT JACOBS

Fans were sleeping. Heads were slouched, yawns aplenty. On the surface, this didn’t look like the closing moments of a crucial game two. It looked more like the 2008 All Star Game, that kept going and going… and going. And what a marathon this game two was.

It took five hours and twenty seven minutes to finish this dandy. And when it was over, after pinch runner Fernando Perez slid safely into home on a shallow right field popup in the bottom of the eleventh with the bases loaded and an 0-2 count on B.J. Upton the Rays found themselves back in this thing. After the 400 plus pitches were thrown, the Rays found this roller-coaster ride of a season alive and thrillingly well. 1-1 going back to Boston. It’s a split Tampa Bay will gladly take.

So, instead of staring at a devastating 2-0 series deficit and the prospects of losing the first two at home, heading back to Boston for three, the Rays had to win this game. Nine runs later they did.

This one had it all. Seven home runs tied a post-season record. And that was with Scott Kazmir and Josh Beckett pitching. Twenty four hits. A brilliant three and a third scoreless relief appearance from the Rays Dan Wheeler. And lest we forget the rookie David Price stepping in during the 11th inning with one out and one on, and getting out of the inning unscathed.

The Red Sox weren’t as fortunate. Mike Timlin who had last pitched September 28th took the loss in his 45th post-season appearance. Maybe he just wanted some sleep! It was 1:35 a.m. when the Rays got the game winning run home.

David Ortiz has really struggled in this post-season without Manny Ramirez. Ortiz is just 4-23 in these 2008 playoffs.

It looked like the Rays had control in the 8th inning leading 8-7, but a wild pitch allowed Dustin Pedroia to score. And on and on we went into the wee hours of the night and into the morning.

Rays 9 Red Sox 8.

We’ve got a series folks.

This one’s got a long way to go.