Happy Thursday Gabbers!

FOR SALE:

Young, washed up quarterback. Loves to party, hates to train. Can't hit the broad side of a barn with a football. Has a terribly weak arm and lacks foot speed. For more information, please contact Ken Whisenhunt.

How far has the mighty fallen? Matt Leinart, the once-highly touted quarterback out of U$C is now for sale after being replaced by Derek Anderson as starting quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals. And, if you haven't paid attention to Anderson's career, let me just put it this way: Being replaced by Derek Anderson is as close to rock bottom as you can get in the NFL.

But I'm sure some team will take a flier on him and sign him when the Cardinals give him the heave ho this weekend. If I had to place a bet on where he ended up I'd put my money on Buffalo, because to me that's about the only place that he could go where he would have a realistic chance at taking over the starting job. The rest of the teams in the league either have an established starter or have a newly drafted rookie to take over the reigns.

The NFL regular season is just around the corner, and I don't know about you guys but I'm stoked. I'm tired of watching pre-season games that mean nothing with players who won't even be in the league after this weekend - I'm ready for some real football. But have no fear: we're only a week away from the regular season kickoff between the Saints and the Vikings. Of course, the bad part about this is we will have to listen to the non-stop Brett Favre talk all week leading up to the game, but at this point I don't even care any more - I need to see some real football, and I'm willing to put up with a little Favre-fest to do it.

A few weeks ago I made my bizarre Super Bowl prediction of Chargers/Packers, but if I remember correctly (and I'm too lazy to go back and look) I didn't predict the other playoff qualifiers, so I'm going to do that now.

NFC

Division Winners: Dallas, San Francisco, Green Bay, New Orleans
Wild Cards: Atlanta, Carolina (homer pick, I know)

NFC Championship: Green Bay over New Orleans

AFC

Division Winners: New England, San Diego, Baltimore, Indianapolis
Wild Cards: Houston, Cincinnati

AFC Championship: San Diego over Indianapolis

Super Bowl: Green Bay over San Diego

(In February when we discover that I got all these picks correct, I'll gladly remind you of this day.)

MEMBER PARTICIPATION: What are your playoff predictions? Surprise teams (good or bad)?

Moving on to one brief thought in baseball: It looks like the Dodgers finally got smart and realized that Manny wasn't the guy they needed in the middle of their lineup any more, so they decided to cast him to the waiver wire, and he ends up going to Chicago to play for the White Sox. (Although I think it would have been more interesting if he would have went to the Red Sox, but maybe that's just the side of me who enjoys a little drama to keep things interesting.) But, Manny's in Chicago, and if you're like me, your reaction was "meh, whatever". I understand that the White Sox are in a division race at the moment, but I just don't think that Manny has that much to offer them at this point in his career, especially when you factor in that he's been hurt for the majority of this season. But, to each his own, I guess.

Totally random baseball link: If you're into weird baseball stories, be sure to take the time to read this article.

Well, that's it for me this week. Feel free to add any thoughts you have in the comments section, and stay tuned for the start of the NFL season this coming week.

Until next Thursday...