• I'd be surprised if … there's a better matchup, with as much bad blood, as Texans vs. Titans -- and specifically Andre Johnson vs. Cortland Finnegan.

• I'd be surprised if … the Saints can stay undefeated with the way they keep turning the ball over lately (13 in their last four games).

• I'd be surprised if … all Syracuse grads are as good of a sport as Donovan McNabb, who howled at jokes about Division Le Moyne beating his alma mater as he headed out of the Eagles' practice facility late Thursday.

• I'd be surprised if … Aaron Rodgers doesn't have a big game against the 49ers' weak pass rush.

• I'd be surprised if … something hasn't permanently changed, for the worse, in our collective fandom when a guy like Maurice Jones-Drew does the right thing for the game and his team but has to put up with the whining of fantasy football owners.

• I'd be surprised if … I end up cool and rich enough when I'm 87 years old to express myself as freely as Bud Adams.

• I'd be surprised if … the Raiders don't at least scare the Bengals and begin to avoid becoming the worst offense in NFL history.

• I'd be surprised if … the Giants, who are 5-15 after byes, don't struggle once again.

• I'd be surprised if … the Browns couldn't do better than Mike Holmgren, and that, maybe, the franchise is in the shape it's in is because Randy Lerner thinks a guy who is 4-6 in the playoffs in the past 10 years is one of the greatest football minds in the business.

• I'd be surprised if … the Dallas defense doesn't get three sacks for the eighth week in a row.

• I'd be surprised if … Randy Moss and Tom Brady don't teach Darrelle Revis a lesson, even if it's "stop double-teaming Randy and put someone on Wes Welker."

• I'd be surprised if … there was a scarier stat than this: Playing at night, Jay Cutler has thrown a pick every 20.3 passes.

Have you checked out our Page 2 Encyclopedia? Here are some edits and additions:

Hand ball: In soccer, an illegal touch easily identifiable on television; a referee's problem, not France's.

Holliday, Matt: Three-time All-Star as a member of the Colorado Rockies. Second in 2007 National League MVP voting. Traded to Oakland A's in Nov. 2008 in deal for closer Huston Street. Had .831 OPS in 93 games for Oakland. In July 2009, traded to St. Louis Cardinals for three minor-league prospects; compiled 1.023 OPS for St. Louis in 63 games. Tried to catch ball with groin in 2009 playoffs. Free agent; will try to convince an American League team to overpay for a National League player.

Iverson, Allen: College: Georgetown. One of only two Hoyas to leave school early under John Thompson. No. 1 pick in 1996 NBA draft, Philadelphia 76ers. Rookie of the Year, 1997. Two-time All-Star Game MVP. League MVP, 2000-2001. Hates to practice. Won't come off bench. Even Knicks don't want him.

Mangino, Mark: Kansas Jayhawks football coach (2002-present). Led team to Orange Bowl with 12-1 record in 2007, school's first BCS invitation. In 2007, won National Coach of the Year honors from numerous publications, including the Associated Press and ESPN/ABC, and was also named Woody Hayes Coach of the Year. Unlike Hayes, did not end his career by decking an opposing player. Reserves animosity for own players.

Turnover: In football, to lose possession of the ball through a mistake (a fumble, intercepted pass or coaching arrogance).

"But every week of the regular season is important in college football!"

It's the standard line from every BCS apologist who ever lived.

Yet here we are with one week remaining in the college football regular season (or two, depending on the conference) and I ask you to show me one game on this week's schedule that matters.

Just one.

The No. 1 team in the country is playing a bad team from the Sun Belt conference. The No. 2 team in the country is playing an FCS school. The remaining undefeated teams are all favored by three touchdowns or more. Except for Cincinnati. They have a bye week.

I suppose you can say Oregon-Arizona and Cal-Stanford mean something. But that's only if you're a Pac-10 fan who still holds the Rose Bowl in high regard. The rest of the country could care less.

So here we are with one week left in the regular season and you (or your sports-savvy wife/girlfriend) can easily make the case there's not one reason to turn on the TV today.

Imagine that happening in the NFL. You can't. A season's importance and drama should build during the season.

Yet here we are, one week left in the regular season, and the schedule is full of zero. And a couple weeks from now, the entire sport will go dark for a month while we wait for the one game that does matter (as determined by a computer).

Well done, college football. As always. Well done.

Gordon Edes, who has covered baseball for more than 25 years, joined ESPNBoston.com on Friday. Gordon is a colorful character, having written for the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, among other publications. He had spent 12 years covering the Red Sox for the Globe.

So Page 2 wanted to welcome him to our family with a question and answer.

Page 2: Is Boston the most passionate sports town in America?

Edes: I've never been to Tuscaloosa on a football Saturday. I have, however, been in the Montreal Forum for a Russia-Team Canada hockey game, Yankee Stadium during the World Series, the Big D for a Cowboys game, and the Spectrum (RIP) for a Flyers game. No team intrudes as much on the fabric of a region's daily life as the Red Sox in New England, but passion flows deep and wide in plenty of places. Whatever they call the park the Marlins play these days isn't one of 'em.

Read More »

Lately, college football has adopted its older brother's affection for corporate naming rights and big-money network contracts. This makes sense, of course, since history has taught us that where capitalism goes, football follows.

The well-fed feast on the average, greedily outspend each other for the top spot, and then blame the system when the whole thing ends controversially.

It's the market! It's the BCS! And hey, President Obama wants to change both …

But look hard enough, and you can still spot some endearing vestiges on college football's softer underbelly.

Take matchup nicknames, for example. The Michigan-Ohio State game, considered one of the greatest sports rivalries, has donned the simple moniker "The Game." There are a couple of Ivy League schools that claim ownership of that nickname, too, but no Crimson-Bulldogs game has ever packed Harvard Square quite like they can in The Big House or The Horseshoe.

Read More »

Ten years ago this week, then-Kansas defensive end Dion Rayford angrily attempted to crawl through a Taco Bell drive-thru window to claim a chalupa that was missing from his order -- an action for which he was suspended from his team, received probation, became the butt of late-night talk jokes, and narrowly avoided the epic scorn and derision of a sports blogosphere that, much to his good fortune, had yet to exist.

As the old saw goes, to be great is to be misunderstood.

John Keats died largely ignored. It took the Vatican 359 years to apologize to Galileo. During his lifetime, Bach -- perhaps the greatest composer in Western history -- was thought of as little more than a talented organ player. So too has Rayford's principled genius gone unrecognized and unsung. In an era marked by the public's chronic unwillingness to stand up and demand what is rightfully theirs -- instead rolling over for bailed-out banks, manipulative politicians, uber-powerful corporations, those sinister forces that would charge $8.50 for an 8-oz. cup of warm stadium beer -- Rayford said enough. No mas. He drew a line in the sand, then crammed his 6-foot-3, 270-pound frame through a 14-by-46-inch window, the better to seize the warmed-over chalupa that was both his due and destiny.

Hey, nobody said virtue was an easy fit.

Rayford is a role model. An inspiration. He had the courage of his convictions and the can-do, Teddy Rooseveltian spirit of vigorous action to match. He went for the chalupa. He would not be denied. No he can't? Yes he can. Surrounded by so many metaphoric missing chalupas of our own -- unaffordable health care, burgeoning public debts, crummy schools and crumbling roads, a BCS cartel that callously blocks the college football playoff everyone not wearing a yellow blazer wants -- can we, as Americans, say the same?

Why did Oprah Winfrey decide to end her show in 2011? Page 2's dubious network of sources uncovers the real reasons:

• Desire to retire before Brett Favre does

• Book club didn't leave enough time to read US Weekly

• Only way to hold a place in line for next "Twilight" movie

• Prevents show's 26th season, thereby protesting Phoenix Suns' refusal to retire Jud Buechler's No. 26

• PTSD following Tom Cruise couch-jumping incident remains untreatable

• Realized flying car giveaway will never happen, even though it's the year 2010 and she's Oprah

• Consulted with Darren Daulton's personal calendar

• Probable conflict with presidential bid

Joe Cada's life has been a whirlwind since he became the youngest player ever to win the World Series of Poker's main event on Nov. 10.

For his triumph, Cada won $8.55 million, a sum to be shared with backers who paid for his entry into the WSOP. Meantime, the 22-year-old Michigan native is acclimating to his newfound celebrity, making the rounds on national talk shows ranging from CNN's "American Morning" to "The Late Show with David Letterman."

He's living his dream, and we're sorry we missed the victory celebration.

Cada's victory tour pulled into Bristol on Thursday, and the reigning king of Texas Hold 'em squeezed Page 2 into his schedule -- even as his mind was likely wandering to Michigan Stadium, where he has plans to watch his beloved Wolverines as they try to stun rival Ohio State on Saturday.

Page 2: How has your life changed since winning the World Series?

Cada: It's been pretty crazy. I don't get to sleep in anymore. A bunch of media, running around, media, media.