Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day, one of the great American holidays. The turkey day!

It is the one time of the year where families get together, eat well, and then spend the rest of the day knocked out on the couch watching football with their stomachs stuffed!

You will then need those extra calories to burn off some energy the next day on "Black Friday".

Thanksgiving is a tradition that goes back to some of the first Europeans that stepped foot on the "new world".

Of course there is still controversy as to whether or not Thanksgiving is a religious holiday, I say yes it is, and we still do not know if the first Thanksgiving was in Plymouth, Ma, or in Jamestown, Virginia.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Braga beats Arsenal

Portuguese soccer got another big victory last night as Braga defeated Arsenal 2-0 in the Champions League.
I was impressed with the way Braga played, they were very confident, and showed no fear against one of the top teams in European soccer.
Having said, I must admit that Arsenal did have a very sloppy game, but a lot of that has to do with how well Braga played defensively. They were able to close up the passing lanes, and Braga was able to link up on counter attacks quickly and efficiently.
Rodriguez, the Braga central defender had a great game, I thought that he was the player of the game. He was a nuisance all game long, not allowing any breathing room for the Arsenal attackers.

Portuguese soccer is on a high right now, the Portuguese teams participating in European tournaments are doing well, and there is some good soccer being played in the domestic Portuguese league.
This is why there are so many European scouts at all Liga Sagres games, even smaller teams like Rio Ave have scouts looking at some of their players.

Let us see how far the Portuguese teams can go in the UEFA Cup, and the more prestigious UEFA Champions League.

Awesome!

What an awesome Monday Night Raw!

While it is sad to see John Cena "retire" from the WWE, one of my favorite wrestlers has become the World Champion.

The Miz is the new WWE Champion after beating Randy Orton last night.

Awesome!!

Christmas spirit

Is it just me, or are we celebrating Christmas earlier with each year that passes?

I am sorry, I mean the "Holiday season".

We are not even in Thanksgiving yet, but everywhere I go, I hear Christmas music, I see Christmas promotions.

I find it sad just how commercialized it has gotten.

Let us get back to the true meaning of Christmas, spending time with family and friends, eating way too much of Grandma's food, and drinking egg nog.

Portugal beats Spain 4-0

Portugal put on a stunning display against the best team in the world, Spain.

I know that it was a meaningless "exhibition friendly", but it was an amazing performance. It was a great game, as both teams played open attacking soccer.

The only thing that spoiled the game was the first bad call of the game.

The referee somehow did not allow the goal by Cristiano Ronaldo due to an imaginary offside. This referee also missed some other calls, but it was not enough to ruin the show that Portugal was putting on display.

This team is playing very well.

I am excited for the future of the Portuguese National Team under Paulo Bento.

The only negative of the night was the lack of support for the team.

In a game featuring two of the best National teams in the world, only 25000 fans showed up to the game.

Not what you are looking for when you are submitting a bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

Dallas beats the Giants

Well, would you look at that!

Dallas gets rid of Wade Phillips, and they win the first game. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

The talent has always been there, let us see what happens for the rest of the season.

top 25

The most interesting thing that I found on the Top 25 this Monday was not who was ranked, but rather who is not.

USC, Texas, Florida and Notre Dame are not in the top 25.

Crazy times in college football.

After another Florida loss, this time to rivals South Carolina, the Urban Meyer haters are back.

I find it amazing that Urban is not allowed a rebuilding season.

If Florida has another bad season next year, then fine, but after one bad season? Come on.

The same for Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns.

Texas is having an awful year, they might even miss a bowl game.

She has my vote!

A pop singer in Poland is running for a political office, and she has an unusual way to get noticed, she hopes that sexy photos of her in a bikini will help.

I believe that will get the male votes.

Conference expansion

With all the conference realignments going on, here are my ideas:

Big 12- I think that the Big 12 should add TCU and Houston to replace Nebraska and Colorado.

Some people like Jerry Jones want Arkansas and Notre Dame to join the conference, but this will not happen.

Notre Dame will not give up its Independent status along with their television rights, and I cant imagine that Arkansas will want to leave the SEC.

It would be nice to see Texas and Arkansas renew their rivalry on a yearly basis.

Big East- It is almost certain that Villanova will be joining the Big East in football. Villanova is already a member of this conference in every other sport.

Another interesting choice should be UCF which would give USF an instate rival.

The final two spots should go Temple, and to Memphis.

Some people don't like Memphis here, so how about one of those top teams from the CAA like a Richmond, James Madison, UMASS or Delaware?

The Big East would have 12 teams and would be able to have a championship game.

The conference that I am concerned about is the WAC.

Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada are leaving the conference to join the Mountain West.

The replacements that have been mentioned are not very impressive.

The WAC has announced that UT-SA and Texas State will be joining the conference, and that they have sent invites to Montana, Montana State and North Iowa. Rumour has it. they are interested in Eastern Washington, must be the Red Turf.

Are you kidding me? Six FCS schools?

Of the remaining WAC schools, there are lots of rumours flying around.

Hawaii wants to go independent, Utah State wants to join the MWC, and Louisiana Tech wants to leave for either Conference USA or the Sun Belt for financial reasons.

The future looks grim for this conference.

I honestly believe that the remaining schools will have to join the MWC and other conferences.

TCU to the Big East?

There has been a lot of reports coming out about the possibility of TCU joining the Big East. No, seriously, ESPN and other networks are all over this.

Football wise, this would be a great addition to the Big East, as I believe that TCU is better than any other team in the conference.

Geographically however, it is another story.

TCU is in Fort Worth, which is located roughly 1700 miles away from the league headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island; TCU is also located at least 1000 miles away from five of the Big East members.

The closest school is Louisville which is 900 miles away.

Some of the people who defend the idea of TCU joining the Big East argue that Nebraska is 1200 miles away from Penn State.

There are also the ones who remind me that TCU currently travels a lot in its current conference, for example, New Mexico is 600 miles away, a trip to Utah is 1240 miles away.

The only thing that I dont understand is why the Big 12 has not shown any interest in TCU.

Perhaps the Big 12 wants to keep its 10 team format.

TCU will be a great addition to whatever conference they decide to join.

Cam Newton

It seems that every day there is a news report about Cam Newton.

Now it seems that his father tried to arrange a pay for play deal with Miss State.

Yesterday there was a report that Cam was facing expulsion from the University of Florida for cheating on a test, before he decided to transfer out.

There was also the issue of him "throwing a laptop out the window".

There are certainly a lot of character questions here, but will it be enough to take the Heisman away from him?

5-0 Porto-Benfica

After the humiliating loss at the hands of Porto, Benfica is clearly out of the running for the Portuguese Championship.

Yes, I am aware of the fact that there is still the entire second half of the season to be played, but let me remind you that Porto is now 10 points ahead of Benfica.

The "system" in Portugal will not allow Porto to lose that many points in the rest of the season.

There is one thing that must be made clear however, the fact is that in the two times that Porto and Benfica have faced each other, Porto has outscored Benfica 8-0. That certainly means something, does it?

Something else that I find interesting, Jorge Jesus has lost his charm around the Estadio da Luz. Benfica supporters and the Portuguese media can be brutal, especially when Benfica is not playing well, imagine how they can be after such a bad loss, and after a disastrous start to the season.

I do not believe that Jorge Jesus will be fired, at least not during the season.

Can he still save his job? I believe so, but much improvement will be needed.

Perhaps a "cleaning" of the locker room would do some good as well.

As I had told some people earlier, there are some Benfica players that clearly should have left in the off season. This means you, Cardozo.............

Benfica vs Lyon

Benfica had an almost perfect game against Lyon in the Champions League.

Benfica was up 4-0 at one point of the game, but ended up allowing 3 goals in the last 15 minutes.

This was a great victory ahead of the Porto clash.

Fabio Coentrao continues his fine form and scored 2 goals.

I think that this is where Fabio plays better, in the left wing, this season he was moved up in the field so he could be used as a replacement for Angel Di Maria.

He is doing a fine job.

As for Carlos Martins, he is also in fine form as he provided all four assists in the game.

He played in central midfield because Pablo Aimar was unavailable due to illness.

Carlos normally plays in the right midfield in what was Ramires spot last season.

It is going to be a great game this Sunday when Benfica plays that team called Porto.

One catch for 8 yards

One catch for 8 yards, this is all that Randy Moss had to offer on his return to New England.

This was also his last game as a Viking, as today it has been reported that he was released by the team.

Oh, Big D for dead.

The Boys lost yet again to go 1-6 this season.

I just don't understand what is wrong with this team besides Wade Phillips.

A lot of people think that this team was overrated to begin with, and it is hard to argue this, but this team is loaded with talent, especially in a defense that is led by the best pass rusher in the NFL in D Ware.

Maybe the Cowboys can get the first pick in next years Draft, and pick Ryan Mallet.