FanHouse

It's just one loss, right? There's no need to press the panic button after one loss, right? That's probably the truth. The Phillies are still winning the NLCS two games to one, even after their 7-2 thumping at the hands of the Dodgers in Game 3 on Sunday night. They still only need two wins in the last four games to lock up their first World Series berth in 15 years. Still, the Phils shouldn't let that lead mask some serious concerns after three games.

Even with two hits from Ryan Howard last night, he and Jimmy Rollins still on have three combined on the series. Maybe Howard's starting to break out of his post-season slump, but I think I need to see more than a double and a single from the big man to be convinced he's back. And beyond that, Jamie Moyer and Brett Myers have now given up 11 earned runs in the last two starts for the Phillies. Their bullpen is good, but they're going to need either one of those two or Joe Blanton to step things up, because Cole Hamels can't win two games by himself with only one start left in the series.

All of this likely sounds an incredibly negative outlook for a team that's still up 2-1 in the series. It probably is. But it was hard to not get the sense that the series was swinging around significantly between the beating the Dodgers laid on Moyer and the brawl that took place after Shane Victorino watched a Hiroki Kuroda fastball sail over his head. They say that momentum is only as good as your next starter, so it's up to Joe Blanton to be the Phillies stopper. If he can do it, the Phillies should have the series on lock. If he can't, well, I don't think the Phillies want to think about that.

I love the NBA. I love the regular season, I definitely love the playoffs and I even love the summer league.

But I hate the preseason.

Why? First and foremost, the NBA makes it nearly impossible to watch a game. I'm a Pistons fan, and even though they were one of the last four teams standing last year, the four months from the end of the conference finals to the start of the preseason felt like an eternity. So when the Pistons took the court for their first preseason game last week, I was understandably geeked ... until I realized it wasn't even televised, at least not in the Detroit market.

Sadly, that's actually a common occurence for preseason games -- of the eight games on Detroit's slate, only three will be televised in metro Detroit. I'm baffled by the decision -- the best I can gather is that TV execs are worried about ratings what with the MLB playoffs, the NFL and college football, the NHL and cars with lots of advertisments driving in circles competing for the average sports fan's attention.

But still, there are a lot of fans who only have eyes for the NBA, and denying them a chance to watch not one, not two, but a full 60% of the preseason? It just doesn't make sense. Certainly there's at least one station willing to show the game, right? And if there's not, why not just put it online? In fact, that might actually be preferable since it'd kill two birds with one stone: appeasing local fans who'd otherwise be shutout as well as throwing a bone to international fans who weren't going to have a chance to tune in.

Thanks to just one ceremonial puck drop with Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the National Hockey League has turned into a political football -- and a lot of the folks are working very hard trying to influence what and how you think about it.

In the last 24 hours, I've seen a pair of interesting instances of how the events of Saturday night are being reported that are worth noting. Details follow after the jump.

Did you know that Matt Hasselbeck, once upon a time, backed up Brett Favre? It's true -- he drafted by Green Bay and learned under the Great One and Mike Holmgren for two years before heading to Seattle with his coach.

So there was something oddly bizarre about not seeing the 'Beck sit this one out, while his would-be successor for holding Favre's clipboard -- Aaron Rodgers -- fought through several injuries for the second straight week to attempt and lead the Packers to victory. Which, as you can see from the title, he did.

And it was one of those MUST WIN-wins (a phrase that needs to die, and quickly, unless we're speaking of elimination games), and Rodgers did what he needed to, "rushing" for a touchdown and throwing for two more. Both were Favre-like, in that they were, individually, a long bomb to Greg Jennings and a one yarder to John Kuhn. (Who? Exactly.)

Meanwhile, Charles Lester Frye wasn't much like anyone worthwhile, completing 12 passes for 83 yards, even though it included two touchdowns. Koren Robinson was his leading receiver with 23 yards and Keary Colbert pulled in a five yard catch in the end zone, his only of the day. So, yeah, you could say everything's coming up Seattle these days.

Earlier this week, Eagles quarterback Donovan Mcnabb wrote that he was "embarrassed" by the way he and his teammates were playing over the past couple of weeks. Well, Donovan can turn that frown upside down, at least for today, as the Eagles put up 23 fourth quarter points on their way to a 40-26 win at San Francisco.

Mcnabb completed 23 of 36 passes for 278 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while DeSean Jackson hauled in six passes for 98 yards in his homecoming of sorts. And they did it all without Brian Westbrook.

The Eagles had to come from behind after blowing a 17-6 lead of their own, and it started to slip away on the last play of the first half when San Francisco's Anthony Strickland returned a block field goal 41 yards for a touchdown. On the opening drive of the second half, Frank Gore capped off a six-play, 78-yard drive when he scored on a six-yard run to give the 49ers their first lead of the day. Gore finished the game with 101 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.

Later in the quarter, Joe Nedney booted a 29-yard field pushing the San Francisco lead to nine points. Things looked good for the 49ers ... until the fourth quarter started.

In the aftermath of Team USA's 6-1 thrashing of Cuba in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday night, I couldn't help but feel like there was one thing missing -- and that was the presence on the field of one of the future start of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team, Maurice Edu. With Edu now playing with Glasgow Rangers of the Scottish Premier League, fans in North America just don't get enough chances to see him play.

Unless of course you pick up the video game FIFA '09 from EA Sports. Edu is such a big star these days that he earned himself a place on the cover beside Ronaldinho of AC Milan and Guillermo Ochoa of Mexico's Club America. Edu is pictured here wearing the kit of Toronto FC, the club he played with in MLS.

You want to know the only appropriate way to wrap up a day of sitting in front of your television watching football? Chatting about it during the Sunday Night Football game!!

The Patriots are flying west to take on the Chargers in a showdown of two teams we all thought would be more juggernauts in the AFC.

Find your coziest blanket, ask that sweetie of yours for a foot rub and join us for the football chat of a lifetime.

The festivities begin at 8:00 PM Eastern and bad news for Pats fans, I heard Tom Brady might be out again this week. When is that guy coming back already?

Tampa Bay ended a five-game home losing streak against Carolina, and in the process took over the top spot in the NFC South with its 27-3 victory on Sunday. And it was all thanks to Jeff Garcia!

Well, not really, but Garcia reclaimed his starting job and played like you would expect Jeff Garcia to play. He was accurate, didn't turn the ball over, and even threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Alex Smith.

In all honesty though, if there was an offensive star for the Buccaneers, it was probably 33-year old running back Warrick Dunn, as the 12-year veteran picked up 115 yards on 22 carries for his first 100-yard game of the season. Actually, it was Dunn's most productive day running the football since week two of the 2006 season when he picked up 134 yards as a member of the Falcons.

Preparing for what might be the first brother vs. brother fight in sports history, Frank Shamrock and Ken Shamrock say they have signed a contract to fight each other in a mixed martial arts match next year.

Both brothers told ESPN that the fight will happen:

"We've both signed a contract to fight each other," younger brother Frank Shamrock told ESPN.com. "Ken is down with it. We talked about it two years ago, and we've agreed materially to fight."

"Will the fight happen? Absolutely," Ken Shamrock told ESPN.com. "He's got a buttkicking coming to him. Everything I've learned, everything I have bottled up in me, is going to come out on him. I've still got love for Frank, but I'm angry at him."

It appears that the fight will take place in April of 2009, and that EliteXC will promote it. The mere fact that the two fighters have the same last name would undoubtedly be the kind of fight that would draw a lot of mainstream media attention, and would generate good ratings for CBS.

So let's just set the stage for quite possibly the dumbest play in recent Lions history. Late in the first quarter of a tie game against division rival Minnesota, Detroit quarterback Dan Orlovsky, in for a physically and emotionally battered Jon Kitna, facing third-and-10, takes the snap from his own one-yard. He's immediately flushed to his right by defensive end Jared Allen, and as Orlovsky looks downfield, presumably to try to complete a pass, he runs out of the back of the end zone.

Unintentionally. (You can view the numbnuttery in all it's embarrassing glory around the 25 second mark by clicking the photo above.)

I'd like to think that the Lions are somehow less a three-ring circus without Matt Millen, but it has yet to manifest itself on Sundays. On the upside, nobody's luggage has been stolen in more than a month, so there's that.

Oh, and the Lions lost, but that probably goes without saying.