Random thoughts while wondering what ever happened to Robin Earl:

The Bears invade New England tomorrow for a true test of how good they really are.  Can their secondary put pressure on Tom Brady’s receivers?  Can they get a decent pass rush against Brady against a fairly good New England line?  Can their running game get going and can they hang on to some critical passes?

Truth be told, they can’t.  Patriots 27, Bears 17.

If Notre Dame beats USC tonight, it almost guarantees an OSU-Michigan rematch for the national title.  But is it fair if Michigan wins.  It has to be two out of three don’t you think?  That is unless Florida runs the table against FSU and Arkansas.  Florida is lucky that they are not playing LSU in Atlanta because right now, LSU is the best team in the SEC.

If Bill Curry lost to Auburn three straight times and got canned, why is it that Mike Shula, who has lost four straight times, still has a job?  Don’t forget Tide Nation although Mike is a Shula, his mentor at the NFL level was Dave Wannstedt.  Dave’s really burned it up at Pitt, hasn’t he?

Pat Dobson died the other day.  He was a member of the last pitching staff to have four twenty game winners (along with Mike Cuellar, Jim Palmer and the late Dave McNally). It is truly remarkable that the Orioles didn’t win more championships with this pitching staff and some great players like Brooks Robinson, Boog Powell, Don Buford, Paul Blair and Davy Johnson.   With the way that managers yank pitchers out after six innings, you’ll probably never see that again.