General

Shanoff’s WUC: Vikes, McRib, Brees, Cougars

Sep 14, 2009, 12:11 PM UTC

Today’s Calls: Adrian Peterson vs. Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb vs. Mike Vick, Jay Cutler vs. Drew Brees, Matt Barkley vs. Terrelle Pryor, Houston vs. Oklahoma State, Serena vs. Kanye and More.â†µâ†µThe Opening Pitch: Brett Who?â†µ

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â†µBrett Favre did his best impersonation of Trent Dilfer — because Adrian Peterson did his best impression of Walter Payton.â†µ

â†µâ†µDid Favre unretire in order to be a classic “game manager” QB? It doesn’t matter, because that’s what the Vikings should demand of him if they want to win. The play-calling is simple: Give it to Peterson. Let him stiff-arm defenders (twice, on that one magnificent play!). Repeat.â†µ

â†µâ†µFavre is playing the Dilfer for now, but the question remains how long before Favre rejects that fit like a bad transplant, gets antsy and does what Favre does best: Force ill-advised passes that turn into game-killing picks.â†µ

â†µâ†µHopefully, the Vikings will stick with what Peterson does best. That seems to work just fine.â†µ

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â†µNFL Wrapâ†µ

â†µâ†µBig Story: Donovan McRibâ†µâ†µ

â†µâ†µHighlight: Stokley’s TD tip-n-dashâ†µ

â†µâ†µQuestion: Who needs T.O.?â†µ

â†µâ†µFantasy Stud: Drew “Sixpack” Brees (Hon. mention: RB Bell, WR Wayne, TE Carlson)â†µ

â†µâ†µFantasy Dud: Jay Cutler (Hon. mention: Jake Delhomme)â†µ

â†µâ†µFlacco/Ryan ‘09: Mark Sanchezâ†µ

â†µâ†µNon-McNabb Injury: Anthony Gonzalezâ†µ

â†µâ†µThis year’s Dolphins? Not the Dolphins. (But, wow, the Falcons look better than last year’s breakthrough version.)â†µ

â†µâ†µMNF: Tom Brady is back, as if you haven’t heard. If he can make it through this game without suffering a season-ending injury, he and the Pats will already be one huge step ahead of last season. In the nightcap, the Chargers should have little trouble with the Raiders.â†µ

â†µâ†µCFB Weekend Wrap: What did we find out about USC? That they can play just well enough when it matters to barely beat a team that barely beat Navy. What did we find out about Ohio State? That Terrelle Pryor is wasting his talent playing for Jim Tressel. â†µ

â†µâ†µ(Not only should it NOT be heresy for OSU fans to be fed up with Tressel’s conservative approach — they should openly be campaigning for Cincy’s Brian Kelly, who does so much more with so much less than Tressel — does anyone do less with more than Sweatervest?)â†µ

â†µâ†µMeanwhile: Notre Dame may be iffy, but that was a program-making win for RichRod ... The best win of the season so far, by any team? Houston over Oklahoma State in Stillwater ... The most underrated team in the country: Cincinnati ... Next week’s pick: Toledo over Ohio State.â†µ

â†µâ†µAP Top 25 Rant of the Week: How could any AP voter rank Oklahoma State ahead of Houston, after UH went into Stillwater and BEAT the Cowboys. This is the problem with preseason and Week 1 polls: Faulty assumptions are the original sin; inertia is the current one.â†µ

â†µâ†µMy BlogPoll ballot Top 10: (1) Alabama, (2) Houston, (3) BYU, (4) Florida, (5) Texas, (6) USC, (7) Cal, (8) Cincinnati, (9) Boise State, (10) Penn State. Here is a link to the rest of my preliminary ballot this week. Feel free to make a case for changes.â†µ

â†µâ†µSerena’s U.S. Open freak-out: There’s no question that Serena was out of line (although how can you not love an outburst that out-does even John McEnroe’s worst?) The worst part was that it overshadowed an incredible run by Kim Clijsters.â†µ

â†µâ†µ(On the flip side, there was Federer’s shot between the legs last night en route to another win — it might have been the most awesome shot of his career. He’s going to thwack del Potro.)â†µ

â†µâ†µMLB Talking Pointsâ†µ

â†µâ†µ— Red Sox continue: To twist knife in Raysâ†µ

â†µâ†µ— AL Wild Card: Rangers can’t keep upâ†µ

â†µâ†µ— Milestones: Ichiro 200 hits 9xâ†µ

â†µâ†µ— Too little too late: Brad Pennyâ†µ

â†µâ†µ— Fantasy Stud: Pedro Martinez (8 IP, 0 ER, 7 K)â†µ

â†µâ†µMJ’s Hoops Hall speech: Petty and vindictive? Yes. But without those two qualities, Jordan never would have become the greatest ever.â†µ

â†µâ†µBy the way: That’s what the NBA gets for putting Peter Vecsey in the hoops HOF. What did they THINK was going to happen? Reminder that the guy was hardly Hall-worthy.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Last Word: “If I could, I would take this [bleeping] ball and shove it down your [bleeping] throat.” â†µ
â†µ— Serena Williams, in a tennis outburst that might have locked up Last Word of the Year.â†µ

â†µâ†µDan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/danshanoff.â†µ

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