It seems impossible to predict anything in the MLB and NFL worlds anymore.

How can Tony Romo be such an awful quarterback in the 4th quarter? Romo, who is the quarterback for the 2-2 Dallas Cowboys, led his team to a 24-3 lead over the Detroit Lions this past Sunday, and then the trouble started. Romo threw a pass intended for Dez Bryant, but was picked off by former Cowboy great Bobby Carpenter (who went to Romo's wedding only a few months back). Carpenter returned the interception for a touchdown, to make the score 24-10. After this, anyone would think that Romo would start handing the ball off to Felix Jones, run some clock, and eventually get the win, and the interception returned for the touchdown would be an after-thought. Romo goes out during the next possession and throws yet another interception that was returned for a touchdown to cornerback Chris Houston. The Lions end up scoring a couple more touchdowns (Calvin Johnson is an absolute animal), and the Cowboys end up losing. Romo has had a history of falling under pressure over the past few years (most noticeably against the Seahawks), and just can't become a closer. In order for the Cowboys to have any success this year, Romo MUST play better. Romo's failures in the 4th quarter weren't the only thing of note, as the Philadelphia Eagles fell to 1-3 after a loss to the 49ers. The games that the Eagles have lost have been games that either A) they weren't competitive in (vs. the Giants) or B) played awful after a huge lead (vs. the 49ers and vs. the Falcons). I think that they will eventually turn it around, but they are starting to run out of games to correct their problems. Between both conferences, I will say that the Packers, Saints, Lions, and Giants (in that order) are the best teams in the NFC while in the AFC the Patriots, Ravens, Texans and Titans (once again in that order) are the top 4 teams in my opinion.

The MLB post-season started up a week ago, but the biggest story coming into the post-season was the whole Boston Red Sox not making the playoffs mess. The Sox choked big time down the stretch (as did the Braves, which I feel went largely unnoticed) and didn't deserve to have a chance to make the playoffs, let alone be in them. With that said, Terry Francona shouldn't have left Boston (in my opinion, he is going to the White Sox). I don't think anyone really knows if Francona decided to leave or if the Red Sox said to him behind closed doors something to the effect of "either resign or we are firing you". Something had to be done, though, because this team underperformed greatly the first and last months of the season. Big money additions haven't panned out as well as planned over the past few years (besides Adrian Gonzalez), and it doesn't appear that the farm system has any great potential over the next few years. Someone needs to come in and tweak a couple of things, and this team will be on its way. Speaking of Gonzalez, had the team made the playoffs, he would have been my MVP of the American League, but since they didn't, he is out of the picture (as is Jose Bautista and Jacoby Ellsbury). This leaves the potential of anyone on the Rangers, Rays, Yankees or Tigers left. The Rangers didn't have anyone that stood out this year (maybe Michael Young has the best shot), the Rays had a lot of good players this year (no one hit over .300 besides Casey Kotchman), and the Yankees have two players that are going to cancel each other out (Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson). That leaves the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera was a HUGE part of their offense, but wasn't the best player on team this year. That belongs to Justin Verlander, who is my pick not only to win the AL Cy Young, but also the AL MVP. On the NL side of things, it is a two man race between Matt Kemp and Ryan Braun, but I have to give it to Braun based on the Brewers making the playoffs. The NL Cy Young is wide open between Roy Halladay, Clayton Kershaw, Cliff Lee and Ian Kennedy. Halladay and Lee cancel each other out by being on the same team, and Kershaw was on the Dodgers (who finished 12 games out in the NL West). This leaves my NL Cy Young winner in Kennedy who went 21-4 with a 2.88 E.R.A and 198 strikeouts. My post-season picks are on a different page, along with my fellow sports writers.

The Bruins season got kicked off last night against the Flyers by raising the banner at the TD Garden.  Unlike most teams that win a championship, the Bruins seem poised to make another run at another Stanley Cup after bringing most of their big pieces back in Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara, and Milan Lucic. The Flyers should be quite an interesting team themselves, though, as Jaromir Jagr returns to play North American hockey yet again. Jagr has been quite a player during his career, and it should be something to follow him after playing in Russia the past couple of years. Also in the Eastern Conference are the Washington Capitals (who can never be counted out with Alex Ovechkin), the Pittsburgh Penguins (Sidney Crosby's return is crucial for their season), the Tampa Bay Lightning (Steven Stamkos is one of the best players in the league, and Martin St Louis is ageless) and the New York Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist is one of the top 5 goaltenders in the league). The Western Side of the league features the Vancouver Canucks (defending West champs, Daniel Sedin is awesome), the San Jose Sharks (always do well in the regular season, Patrick Marleau leads the offense), Anaheim Ducks (Teemu Selanne had 80 points last year), and the Detroit Red Wings (always a threat, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are a threat whenever they touch the puck). Each NHL season always has surprises in it, and this season seems to be no different then any other.       

In the college football world, the top seven schools had uneventful games, with #4 Boise State having the closest margin of victory at 20 points over Nevada. Wisconsin (who was ranked #7 coming into last week) defeated Nebraska (previously ranked #8) quite easily, defeating the Cornhuskers 48-17. This win solidified that Wisconsin is a top five team (now ranked 4th in the nation), and they have a great shot at winning the Big Ten conference. The one team that isn't getting any love this year appears to be the Oklahoma Sooners, who are ranked 3rd after destroying Ball State. The Sooners have a big match-up this week against the Texas Longhorns. Texas hasn't played any extremely tough opponents yet, and this week is their put up or shut up week in my opinion. Whoever wins the Red River game seems destined to gain a hell of a lot of momentum, and Landry Jones (for Oklahoma) and Jaxon Shipley (for Texas) need to have big games for their teams to win. #1 ranked LSU continued their undefeated season by beating Kentucky 35-7, but come into this week facing a Florida Gators team that is up and coming. Jarrett Lee has played well, filling in for the suspended Jordan Jefferson this year, but playing Florida, who comes in with nothing to lose, should keep Lee from putting up huge numbers this week. With that said, I think the Tigers will win 21-10 to go to 6-0 on the year.

In other irrelevant

(though I find interesting) sports news:

-The whole thing with the defense calling out the quarterback's cadence happens all the time (even in high school). It is the center's job to distinguish the two voices (between the QB and defense).

-After Ed Reed's performance against the Jets on Sunday night, there is no doubt that he is a future hall of famer, but he is as valuable to that defense as anyone else is to their team (including Tom Brady).

-Vince Wilfork has more interceptions then Nnamdi Asomugha, Darrelle Revis and the entire Cincinnati Bengals' and Pittsburgh Steelers' teams.

-Nice to see Tom Brady record his 274th career touchdown pass in Oakland (to pass Joe Montana for 9th on the list). Brady had previously never thrown a touchdown in the Bay Area (against Oakland or San Francisco).

-Those black jerseys on black pants combinations the Baltimore Ravens have are so sweet.

-Matt Hasselbeck is probably the most valuable quarterback to his team.

-Despite being on arguably the worse team in the NFL, Maurice Jones-Drew is 2nd in the NFL in rushing yards.

-Despite being 1-3, the Eagles have scored as many points as they have let up.

-Andre Johnson missing some time (it was unknown as of Monday night how long he would be out) is going to hurt the Texans offense significantly.

-Ben Roethlisberger playing status this week against the Tennessee Titans won't make a difference. The Steelers offense line has as many holes in it as a used pair of skies.

-As far as the Kobe Bryant talks with the Italian team Virtus Bologna, in my opinion, aren't as serious as made out to be. I think Kobe is trying to just push the NBAPA and the NBA to come to an agreement.

-Despite Charles Woodson turning 35 today, the Green Bay Packers cornerback is still a top 3 corner in the league and has no signs of slowing down.

-Chris Johnson is averaging 2.88 yards per carry this year, which is less then Delone Carter, Jacquizz Rodgers and Jackie Battle (who?).

-Jerrod Mayo, being potentially out for 6 weeks, is going to kills the Patriots defense. The linebacker on the Pats really aren't that bad, but Mayo is the heart of that defense.

-Tiger Woods dropped out of the top 50 in the world golf rankings for the first time since 1996. His career isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

-Theo Epstein should be fired from the Sox. During Epstein time as their general manager, Epstein has added the likes of Mike Cameron, Bobby Jenks, Julio Lugo, Edgar Renteria, J.D. Drew and John Lackey, among others. Epstein has made some awful decisions, and it is time for him to go.

-Best NFL game of the upcoming week? The Eagles traveling to Buffalo. How will both teams face adversity this weekend?

 -My pick to win the race at Kansas this weekend is Carl Edwards.

Non-sports information of the week:

-Is it me or are there a lot pigeons on campus this year?

-The snow that fell in North Carolina and West Virginia last weekend excited the hell out of me for this upcoming Winter.

-Shout-out to Mike at New World Auto for taking care of my boy Steve Swiatlowski's car.

-Everyone have a safe long weekend, and don't do anything too stupid.

-I think of this weekend as the mid-way point between the beginning of the school year and Thanksgiving, but that's me.

-Another shout-out is necessary; Plymouth Police gets a lot of crap from students, but one of the officers gave me a ride back from the Ice Arena to Hall Hall when it was raining like hell over the weekend. Needless to say, they got a lot of respect from me.

***One more quick thing- shout-out to Sara Burke, who is a junior on Plymouth's Women's Tennis team. Burke was named LEC Women's Tennis Player of the Week after going 3-0 in her individual matches including beating one of the top players in the conference, Michelle McEwen (who goes to Salem State). The 3-0 record not only helped improve Burke's individual record to 6-3 this year (5-1 against LEC opponents), but allowed the Panthers to go 2-1 within the past week. The Panthers look to continue their strong season (6-3 overall, 3-3 in the LEC) against Worcester State University tomorrow in a LEC match-up. Hopefully, Burke and the rest of the Panthers can keep this momentum going!

‘Till next week I'm outta here..............