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Bender and Homer's Weekly NFL Party Thread Warning: Graphics IntensiveFun Is Mandatory

NFL WEEK ONE LIVE THREAD Thursday, September 4th WAS @ NYG 7:00 PM Sunday, September 7th DET @ ATL 1:00 PM CIN @ BAL 1:00 PM SEA @ BUF 1:00 PM NYJ @ MIA 1:00 PM KC @ NE 1:00 PM TB @ NO 1:00 PM STL @ PHI 1:00 PM HOU @ PIT 1:00 PM JAC @ TEN 1:00 PM DAL @ CLE 4:15 PM CAR @ SD 4:15 PM ARI @ SF 4:15 PM CHI @ IND 8:15 PM Mon, Sep 08 MIN @ GB 7:00 PM DEN @ OAK 10:15 PM

Carrie Underwood has reportedly branded Jessica Simpson fat in a jealous spat over Tony Romo. The American Idol winner - who used to date the Dallas Cowboys quarterback - is said to have been less than impressed when Jess gushed about her man in a recent interview. OK! quotes a friend of Carrie’s as saying, “She finds Jessica’s love of putting her life on display pretty desperate.

Here are my weekly NFL football picks of the week. If any person would like to help me with my picks would be glad to hear from you.

Quick question to start things off this week: do you get irritated to the point where you start going off on people when they say things like “if Clemson (for example) gets beat like they did last week, then how bad is the ACC?” I have a friend who just goes into an absolutely funny state of apoplexy when he hears things like that. I mean, I understand where he’s coming from in a purely logical sense. But he’s also a very ardent liberal Democrat…one of those “I’m smarter than you are because I’m a liberal” types. We’ve all seen...

Tonight's NFL opener between the Giants and Redskins is certainly unfortunate for McCain's speech. Plus the game is on NBC so you lose one of the big 4 networks. The Media will go out and say that B.O. got 30,000,000 viewers but he didn't have to go against the NFL and didn't have one network short carrying speech. Plus, the game tonight features the New York Giants, the largest market team in the NFL who also are the defending Super Bowl champions.

"The 18-year-old McGlone joined 264 stiletto-sporting sprinters in setting a new world record for the most women to run an 80 meter dash wearing 75mm high heels."

Randy Couture, longing to resume his fight career and wearying of the drain his legal battle with the Ultimate Fighting Championship was having on his bank account, settled all outstanding lawsuits with the company Tuesday and agreed to defend his heavyweight championship on Nov. 15 against Brock Lesnar as the main event of UFC 91 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. The 45-year-old Couture, who submitted his resignation to the UFC on Oct. 11 in a bid to force a fight with ex-PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, said he was satisfied with the legal resolution. It was a...

Welcome back, NFL football fans. This is now the fourth consecutive year in which I have committed myself to picking every single NFL regular season game.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier was shot while waiting for some women outside an apartment early Tuesday and sustained life-threatening injuries, authorities said. Collier, 26, and former Jaguars defensive end Kenneth Pettway were waiting in a car when a gunman fired into the vehicle, said Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesman Ken Jefferson. Collier was shot several times, but it wasn't clear where he was hit. Collier was in critical condition at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, a hospital official said. The motive behind the attack was unclear, and the sheriff's office was investigating. Pettway, who was released in...

Caption this photo  Chuck Heath, right, and his wife, Sally, watch in their home in Wasilla, AK, as their daughter, Sarah Palin, was chosen by John McCain as his running mate and choice for vice president.

As Major League Baseball showcased its stars in famed Yankee Stadium, the player who emerged from the All-Star break as the biggest star of all, Texas Ranger outfielder Josh Hamilton, spent most of his time pointing to someone greater than himself. Hamilton, whose career and his life were nearly ended by drug addiction, wowed the masses in person and on TV during Monday night's Home Run Derby, but he used his national platform to give credit to God for his athletic ability. "I can't believe what God has done in my life and how quickly He has done it," Hamilton...

Killer Kowalski Passes Away Walter "Killer" Kowalski passed away early this morning. Kowalski had been taken off life support two weeks ago. He suffered a massive heart attack back on August 8th.

With 41 percent of Tech's traveling roster having never played a college football game, the Hokies' opener against East Carolina this Saturday could be a tough match-up. "We're dressing 10 true freshmen and 15 redshirt freshmen," Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer said. "It's a little bit scary ... We lost a couple kids from last year, but we are very impressed with our freshman class." That is not to say Tech has no veterans on the team, but with only a few at each position, the freshmen will need to step up quickly in order to fend off...

Marilyn Dash of Hayward, who took her first flying lesson nine years ago on her 37th birthday, is now tearing around pylons at 180 miles per hour, 50 feet off the ground in her souped-up biplane, surrounded by a swarm of other planes all dashing to a finish line in the air. Dash will be one of more than 150 pilots competing in six classes of aircraft - from biplanes to jets - when the National Championship Air Races and Air Show take off Sept. 10 to 14 in Reno. In addition to dozens of wingtip-to-wingtip races at as much...

CBS started their US Open coverage today - it has been on USA Network throughout the week. So within the opening minute of the show, footage of Obamessiah's big rally at Invesco Field appears on the screen, with a comment from Dick Enberg what a historic week it's been, the weak tie-in apparently being that Arthur Ashe won the tourny 40 years ago (which is great and had already been celebrated in the opening ceremony, Dick). It might be different if Obamessiah were known as a big tennis aficionado - I have never seen him with a tennis racket. I'm...

Yahoo Pro Football Pick'em Returns to Free Republic. Information you need to know is as follers: located at Yahoo.com, find fantasy sports and click on Pro Football pick'em --- look for "join a group" and click on that Group ID# is 29924 password is reagan it'll aks you for a name ... PLEASE: no R or X rated names, youngsters are invited to play, too. You are allowed to write comments on the msg board , but the same rules apply: no R or X rated comments we are doing confidence point (you assign a # of points on a...

IRVING, Texas (AP)—Now that Adam “Pacman” Jones is really back in the NFL, he insists he will try to do everything he can to stay there. The cornerback-kick returner was fully reinstated Thursday from his 17-month NFL suspension, which followed an accumulation of arrests and legal problems, and is clear to play for the Dallas Cowboys during the regular season. “I am fully a Dallas Cowboy,” Jones proclaimed before the last preseason game. “I don’t have it lingering over my head, will he get reinstated, will he not get reinstated. I just have to keep myself out of bad situations...

Great Job at the StadiumPersonally I though the performance at the Football stadium was great.

NDUSTRY - Developer Ed Roski Jr.'s business partner says he has "no doubt" a National Football League team will play in Los Angeles in 2009, most likely at the Rose Bowl. Majestic Realty Vice President John Semcken also said he believes there is a possibility two NFL teams could wind up playing in the $800 million stadium Roski wants to build in Industry."We are going to have a team here next September," Semcken said Tuesday afternoon."I personally believe, yes," two teams will come to L.A., he said. "Because the economics are so (good). All I want is one. All our...

Alright, that's it, I can't take it anymore. Maybe it's this whole election cycle or that I can't take any more of the Democrat convention, but it's time...you thought it would never come didn't you? Forgive me for interrupting the current Messiah revival going on at Incestco Field at Pile High, we have actual college football games going on. Yes, tonight. Right now, this very day... ...Well, don’t just stand there, go order some pizza or maybe find a box of Franzia or something the college football season is here!! You’re in preseason form here…shame, shame shame. Okay, let’s get...

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (CBS) ― It's no act: a Hollywood superstar is upset about plans to cut the sports programs in a local New York school district. Now he's digging into his own pocket and making a personal plea to save the team. "I am a direct result of the athletic programs in Mount Vernon. That is why I am here today." Those are the words of Oscar winner Denzel Washington, who isn't pulling any punches when talking about the budget crisis that could force his hometown to cut all school athletic programs. "I was upset and I am still...

Three-time Grand Slam winner Lindsay Davenport took a winning first step at the US Open on Monday... But it may be her infant son Jagger who has the final say in how long 32-year-old mum continues her tennis career. Her experience in China was also the first time at an event without her son since his birth in June, 2007, and Davenport admits she felt the tug of motherhood. "When I went to Beijing I left him for two weeks and it was heart-breaking - not so much my husband, but my son," she said. "It's obviously not easy to...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player -- too good, it turns out. The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said. Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho's team, redistributing its players among other...

With the kickoff to the college football season just days away, it's time to step back and celebrate the players, coaches, color and pageantry of the sport. And for the eighth straight year, the Herbie Awards will try to do just that. This list has everything to do with the playmakers, the difference-makers and, in short, all that's great about college football. Herbies are given to the best college football players, coaches, teams and fans from across the nation. Also, this is just my list. These are my choices and not everyone will agree. That's the beauty of it. Let...

With the kickoff to the college football season just days away, it's time to step back and celebrate the players, coaches, color and pageantry of the sport. And for the eighth straight year, the Herbie Awards will try to do just that. This list has everything to do with the playmakers, the difference-makers and, in short, all that's great about college football. Herbies are given to the best college football players, coaches, teams and fans from across the nation. Also, this is just my list. These are my choices and not everyone will agree. That's the beauty of it. Let...

Led Zeppelin guiltarist Jimmy Page performs "Whole Lotta Love" with Leona Lewis at the closing ceremonies.

Local TV stations in Iowa reporting that Shawn Johnson will be doing the Pledge of Allegiance at the DNC convention. Looking for links to the story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klj12Z_ARow

Georgian born Khatuna Lorig will carry the US flag.U.S. team picks Georgian to lead them in closing ceremony

Come join our College Football Pick Em League! I set up the game using the point spread and the confidence points. Its a lot more challenging this way. It makes the College games more fun to follow- it is not hard to pick the winners straight up, especially the powerhouse teams against the cupcake matchups that are nothing more than exhibition games, with the point spread it makes it a lot harder to pick-- The confidence points also add a degree of difficulty--you must choose wisely. Log on to yahoo.com- go to Fantasy Pick College Football Pick'em Click- Join a...

Yahoo Pro Football Pick'em Returns to Free Republic. Information you need to know is as follers: located at Yahoo.com, find fantasy sports and click on Pro Football pick'em --- look for "join a group" and click on that Group ID# is 29924 password is reagan it'll aks you for a name ... PLEASE: no R or X rated names, youngsters are invited to play, too. You are allowed to write comments on the msg board , but the same rules apply: no R or X rated comments we are doing confidence point (you assign a # of points on a...

Where do you fall on the hierarchy of tactical shooters? Everyone with a concealed carry permit would like to believe they're ready should they ever have to use their gun in self-defense. I've seen people whose level of preparation for that possibility ranged from dedicated practice to no practice at all. Can we set up a system to estimate, all else being equal, just how prepared we might be to defend ourselves should we ever wind up in a gunfight? I think so, and I call the resulting system the Hierarchy of Tactical Shooters. It breaks down into five levels,...

Isn’t this British Olympic boasting all rather East German? Huge state-directed resources have been devoted to gathering supposed glory at a world sports festival. But these medals do not tell the truth about what sort of nation we are at all. In fact, they are designed to cover up the truth – that we are an international failure, that our people are increasingly fat, unfit and unhealthy, that our schools continue to lose their sports grounds to development, and that we are, for the most part, one of the least competitive and sporty countries on Earth. What’s more, the national...

It is with a tinge of sadness that I tell you, the Reign of Roger is over. Never content with his domain as perpetual No. 2 to the would-be Greatest Ever, Rafael Nadal spent the past three years building a siege mound to the Federer Fortress. And in one historic summer it was fait accompli, trouncing Federer for the French Open title in June, wresting the Swiss man's beloved estate from him at Wimbledon in July and then garnering Olympic gold and glory last week in Beijing, all on three different surfaces. This was no snipe and hope but rather...

Cuban athlete banned for life after kicking taekwondo referee BEIJING (AP) -- A Cuban taekwondo athlete and his coach were banned for life after Angel Matos kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification. Cuban coach Leudis Gonzalez offered no apology for Matos' actions during the men's over-80 kg (176 pounds) match. Matos was winning 3-2, with 1:02 in the second round, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov. He was sitting there, awaiting medical attention, when he was disqualified for taking too much injury time. Fighters get one...

After listing the total medal count by the highest number of medals won, Yahoo now lists China first due to more Gold medals.

While it’s a reflex to automatically assume the SEC is the nation’s best conference year in and year out, there’s a contender to the throne this season. It took 12 years to get to this point, and now this should be the season when it all comes together for the Big 12. It’s one thing for the usual stars like Oklahoma and Texas to be good, which they will be, but a conference really blows up when the normal also-rans become contenders. After a fantastic bowl season (outside of OU’s gaffe to West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl), the league...

Sometime soon, perhaps as early as the end of August, Major League Baseball will enter a new era, an electronic era well beyond center field cameras, radar guns and QuesTec. The era of instant replay will represent a fundamental shift in the way the game is called. On Wednesday, MLB officials and the World Umpires Association ratified an agreement for the use of instant replay. A source close to the negotiations said an agreement between MLB and the Players Association is expected to be ratified within 48 hours. From there, it's just a matter of time before the final touches...

Michael Phelps was first linked to US swimmer Amanda Beard and English model Lily Donaldson and now a new name is making waves in the media for getting cozy with the iconic Olympian -Stephanie Rice.

Confidential information on almost 130,000 prisoners and dangerous criminals has been lost by the Home Office, sparking yet another Government data crisis. The loss of the details, which were stored on an unencypted computer memory stick, has raised fears that the taxpayer may now face a multi-million pound compensation bill from criminals whose safety may have been compromised and police informants who could be at risk of reprisals. The home addresses of some of Britain's most prolific and serious offenders - including those who have committed violent and sexual crimes - are understood to be among the missing data. A...

South Korea surprises defending champion Cuba for baseball gold South Korea finished Olympics with 9-0 record Cuba's only two losses in '08 Games came to S. Korea Bases loaded double play in ninth inning sealed win BEIJING (AP) -- Campeones no more. There's a new champion in Olympic baseball: the surprising, gutsy South Koreans. South Korea captured gold and capped a perfect and improbable Olympic run with the country's biggest win yet in international baseball, a 3-2 victory over defending champion Cuba on Saturday night in the final of the Beijing Games.

BEIJING – Across the Chinese media, the story has hit saturation coverage. China, once mocked as “the weaklings of Asia,” is going to win what it calls the total medal count for the Beijing Games.

I think this is the biggest moment in Icelandic sport history." - Iceland President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. It's hard to explain just how monumental was Iceland's win over Spain was in today's men's handball semifinals. Spain--with more than 40 million residents--had probably played stronger than any team in the tournament. Iceland has 300,000 residents, and has never won Summer Olympic gold. And yet Iceland never trailed in a 36-30 win, and breezed into Sunday's final against France. But that's too dry. When we asked Iceland's Sigfus Sigurdsson to explain what the scene would be like back home right now, he...

With taekwondo already rumored to be on the brink of Olympic elimination, the sport was doing everything it could to avoid even the slightest shock of controversy. On Friday, it was struck by lightning. In a chaotic episode that might ultimately prove to be the tipping point to Olympic doom, American two-time defending gold medalist Steven Lopez was eliminated from gold-medal contention on a controversial referee’s decision. Lopez would go on to win bronze in the 80-kilogram weight class, but not until after his team leader, Herb Perez, had filed a protest and then ripped the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)...

Just got a text message from myself that Brett Favre was picked as running mate.

By Tamara Gibbs DURHAM (WTVD) -- Since three former Duke Lacrosse players were declared innocent of rape and assault charges, the alleged victim in the highly publicized Duke Lacrosse case has remained out of public view until now. In a press release, Crystal Mangum's manager has announced plans to release a tell-all memoir entitled "The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story." According to the book's co-author Vincent Clark, the book will be released in October.

Yahoo Pro Football Pick'em Returns to Free Republic. Information you need to know is as follers: located at Yahoo.com, find fantasy sports and click on Pro Football pick'em --- look for "join a group" and click on that Group ID# is 29924 password is reagan it'll aks you for a name ... PLEASE: no R or X rated names, youngsters are invited to play, too. You are allowed to write comments on the msg board , but the same rules apply: no R or X rated comments we are doing confidence point (you assign a # of points on a...

Put the shovel down. West Virginia is far from dead. Yeah, Rich Rodriguez is now coaching Michigan, and offensive sparkplugs Steve Slaton, Owen Schmitt, and Darius Reynaud are gone, but the Mountaineers are still the class of the Big East. The one constant amid all the change in Morgantown is QB Pat White, the dynamic dual-threat that’s capable of carrying the program to a third BCS bowl game in the last four years. That said, the ‘eers have too many question marks on defense and on the sidelines to be considered a legitimate threat to run the table and play...

I am often asked if the Olympic village - the vast restaurant and housing conglomeration that hosts the world's top athletes for the duration of the Games - is the sex-fest it is cracked up to be. My answer is always the same: too right it is. I played my first Games in Barcelona in 1992 and got laid more often in those two and a half weeks than in the rest of my life up to that point. That is to say twice, which may not sound a lot, but for a 21-year-old undergraduate with crooked teeth, it was...