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Jimmie Johnson finishes fifth at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, more than good enough to capture the Sprint Cup (and a delicious giant bottle of bubbly) for the fourth straight year. Besides Jimmie, only Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Jeff Gordon have won at least four championships. Besides Jimmie, none of them ever did it in a row. It's history. It's the SportsCenter Highlight of the Night.


Mark Martin finishes 12th, meaning he finishes second. And Jeff Gordon finishes 6th, meaning he finishes third, meaning Hendrick Motorsports finishes 1-2-3 in points - the first team to do so in NASCAR Sprint Cup history.

This kind of rubber can meet the road of your InBox each and every weekday morning without so much as a pit stop. All you have to do is click here to sign up. Rubbin's racin'.

Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis has a contract that runs through the year 2015... it remains to be seen, however, if he has a future in South Bend beyond next week.

The Fighting Irish continue to lose... and Weis' job continues to twist like the last stubborn leaves in the late November breeze... and the wind of all those calling for his crew cut.

Like those leaves... Weis is bound to fall.

His player's graduation rates are great... there have been minimal, if any, off field incidents... there have not been enough wins.

And in that regard Notre Dame, despite its best efforts to distinguish itself as special and uphold higher standards of student athletic excellence, is no different than any other big time football school.

Photo: AP Photo/Mike Roemer
Favre has been so good that he's making a name for himself overseas.

Oh Green Bay, we feel for you. Not only has Favre made your rival Vikings into possible Super Bowl contenders and led them to a 9-1 start, he’s now turned in arguably his best game ever. While wearing purple and gold.

No. 4 completed a career-high 88 percent of his passes and had his 22nd game with at least four touchdown passes (surpassing Dan Marino on the all-time list) in a 35-9 win over the Seahawks. Oh, and apparently Favre’s heroics have become fodder for detainees in Baghdad to tease their Packer-fan guards. Yes, you read that correctly. We know that Peyton and Drew have been the talk of the league this season, but that, friends, is another level of success.

But don’t get down, Green Bay. You might not have Favre anymore, but you have a lot to be proud of.

You were twice awarded the title of All-American City, which apparently is an award given to cities that tackle community-wide challenges. So see? Watching your city’s one-time savior lead a rival to glory isn’t bad. It’s just another opportunity for you to prove your resilience!

You have free public Wi-Fi! And everyone knows watching free youtube videos of a cat playing the piano is way better than watching Favre throw himself into the record books.

You boast Tony Shalhoub – of “Monk” fame – as a native son. And he’s won more Emmys (three) than the Vikings have Super Bowl titles. So, ha.

You are the Toilet Paper Capital of the World! And where would any of us be without toilet paper? Definitely not somewhere where we could comfortably watch Mr. Favre turn in another one of his career performances, that’s where.

The Monday Night Football guys tell you what to look for in this week's matchup between the Titans and Texans.

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Westbrook's second concussion in three weeks made us want to know more about his injuries.

As we're sure you've noticed from a lot of our posts, we like to have fun with the news and the people making headlines. We make jokes because that's what fans do, but we realize some subjects require serious explanations. Like Brian Westbrook's injury status and the bigger topic of concussions in general. According to Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, Roger Goodall has issued a new league-wide policy, "effective immediately. Commissioner Goodell informed every team and every team doctor that they have to go out and find an independent neurologist to work with their medical staff to help on concussion issues, to help guys like Brian Westbrook and Clinton Portis."



With all this talk about concussions, we wanted to know more about the injury itself so we talked to Josh, a board-certified neurologist who works for a university hospital. He's also a Buffalo Bills fan. Hopefully, you'll find his answers as interesting as we did.


(Read full post)

Photo: Aristide Economopoulos/US Presswire
No matter how much the Jets Empire would like to, they're not going to be able to freeze Han Brady in carbonite before today's kick off.

In anticipation of the Jets’ trip up to Foxborough this afternoon, the crew over at Global Sports Fraternity has creatively previewed the big AFC East matchup.

Check out this Jabba the Rex animation, starring Luke Skywelker, Han Brady, Princess Gisele, Jabba the Rex, Sanchez Fett, Randy Calrissian, and featuring a hirsute Matt Light as Chewbacca.

We think GSF is really on to something here and we’d love to see a full-length telling of the Jets Empire’s attempt to crush the Patriots Rebellion. Here’s some help with additional casting ideas:

Bill Belichick as Darth Vader: With both his one-day reign as the Jets head coach and Spygate, is there really any other choice?

Bill Parcells as The Emperor: As the former head coach of both teams and Belichick’s mentor, Parcells is the unquestioned conductor of this space opera.

Junior Seau as C-3PO: In his 19th season, Seau covers the FieldTurf in Gillette Stadium like he’s walking through the sands of Tatooine.

Laurence Maroney as R2-D2: The quiet, compact Maroney makes a great complimentary sidekick but he may have to shave those dreadlocks to complete the look.

Tedy Bruschi as Yoda: Despite his voluntary exile as an NFL analyst, Bruschi remains the true spiritual leader of the Pats.

Stephen Gostkowski as Wicket: If you thought we’re above comparing a kicker to an Ewok, you’re sorely mistaken.

Forest Griffin avenges his first loss in the UFC by defeating Tito Ortiz in a split decision.

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We're from Utah so it's pronounced "Ray al" not "Reel". Duh!

The L.A. Galaxy will take on Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup Final on Sunday, 8:30ET ESPN. We know what you’re thinking and the answer is yes, this is the “Real” Salt Lake team, not Fake Salt Lake who travels around impersonating them. The Galaxy is making their 6^th appearance in the finals (2-3) while Salt Lake is making their first. While we realize that most of you will be tuning for the chance to watch David Beckham and Landon Donovan knock the ball around, that's far from the only reason you should be watching.

Real Salt Lake Has Team Anthems: Salt Lake tries to keep it real before and after the game. Their team song is “The Mighty R-E-A-L” performed by Meg & Dia. It reminds us of WWE entrance music so if you were a real American you’ll love this. They also use Bob Marley’s “Iron Lion Zion” as a post-victory song. If they lose, everybody files out of the stadium silently and refuses to make eye contact with one another.

Mascot Mania: Just when we thought nobody could top Harry the Hawk's flair for the dramatic Cosmo came into our lives. The Galaxy's frog-like extraterrestrial is “universally known as a goalkeeper who can stop shots traveling at the speed of light, but also possesses the speed to play forward for any team on the planet.” Which makes sense, because if you're going to commit to a mascot that is both frog and extraterrestrial, you might as well make it so he can play anywhere on the field.

Real (pronounced: Ray al) Salt Lake: “Real” (Spanish) is translated into English as “royal” and is used by teams that make the King of Spain an honorary member. How that applies to Salt Lake we don’t know, but we love the fact it will be referenced all game long. This should be done with more words, like that Howie Mandel game show, DayÈal or No DayÈal.

Galaxy = Stardom: Everyone knows that L.A. is the entertainment capital of the world and the Galaxy’s prized possession is Becks. But few people know Chris Klein also plays for the Galaxy! First American Pie (1999), then the acclaimed Rollerball (2002) and now a Galaxy defenseman. Oh wait, it’s this Chris Klein.

Photo: Kirby Lee/US Presswire
If only we had more time, we could have dressed up for the tailgate.

As NFL fans cool their beers and warm their chili in parking lots across the country this Sunday morning, a controversy is brewing. As USA Today reported earlier this week, the NFL is concerned that drunken, unruly fans are scaring away the family audience.

No matter how immaturely the drunken, unruly fans scream that they were there first, the NFL is addressing what it sees as a problem by recommending that teams limit tailgating to 3½ hours before each game.

Fortunately for the (drunken, unruly) fans, the teams aren’t listening. Only two teams currently follow the 3½-hour guideline and those are the Buccaneers and the Chiefs, with a combined record of 3-15. Meanwhile, the Saints (9-0) and Vikings (8-1) are among the teams with tailgates lasting up to 6 hours. Ask yourself, is this a coincidence?

But don’t wait for an answer. The brats are coming off the grill, you’re next at cornhole, and the clock is ticking.

Bill Belichick has spawned a new fad.. The krazy-eyed 4th-and-something "double-down-on-13" gamble. First Jim Harbaugh goes for it on 4th-and-8 with his full complement of time outs from his own 22 and 3 and a half minutes on the clock down 3.. Hmmm..

But the topper was the Harvard-Yale game.. Tom Williams in his first year as the Elis head coach doing his level best never to see his 2nd year. Yale up 3, 2:25 on the clock, staring at a 4th-and-22 from its 26. Perfect time for a fake punt.

Because no one would expect it.

Because ---- its insane.

The play actually worked - it just didn't work 22 yards worth.
"The whole idea was to keep our foot on the pedal, and not play
scared," said Williams. Yeah, but Coach, c'mon, sell crazy somewhere else. When you're barreling toward a brick wall at 70 miles an hour, its really okay to take your foot off the pedal.

Blame it on Belichick.