Because I live in Wisconsin, I got to see the Packers-Cowboys game last night(never mind I don't get to see the Bears-Skins game next week.) The game itself was entertaining, especially the part where the Boys knocked the Elderly Hillbilly back to Dixie in the second quarter.  I guess he isn't indestructible after all.

But in watching the game, it became painfully obvious to me that the NFL Network, as a TV network, blows.  Bryant Gumble is an embarrassment as a play by play anchor.  There's absolutely no continuity in what he does, it's more this random stream of consciousness and an occasional call on what's going on in the game.  MARK DOWN THE DATE AND TIME YOU READ THIS: Gus Johnson is better at calling football than Bryant Gumble.  He's an embarrassment to the league and to everybody connected with the network.  Fortunately for me, my picture and the radio were in perfect sync, so I got to listen to one of the best radio play by play guys in the business, Wayne Laravee on WTMJ.

Chris Colinsworth is pretty good.  Don't get me started on Rich Eisen, who was always, in my opinion, the weakest link in his class at Sports center, although I tolerate him a lot better than Stuart Scott.

The camera angles were also questionable and not nearly as good as NBC, CBS or Fox.  I thought they had way to wide an angle when they shot the side shot.  It might be because I was watching on a 13" TV.

In regard to the network, people need to stop harassing their cable companies about it.  The NFL Network is asking too much and it's not fair to people, especially seniors and those lower income people that don't want it or don't want to pay for it.  It should be a sports tier item, just like the Fox channels are on my Time Warner cable system.

America may have been deprived of a great game, but not of a great broadcast.

Lightning Round

• White Sox GM Kenny Williams sounds like a man who is willing to concede that he really can't afford the players he wants which means he has to play with the players he has which means 2008 will look a whole lot like 2007.  At least the Sox were smart enough to drop Alex Cintron.  Yet, they continue to hang on to Juan Uribe.  I'm about ready to scream.
• Let's hope the Sox get the pre-Milwaukee Scott Linebrink model.  And that they give up this obsession with a guy named after breakfast cereal.
  
• Here's what I don't understand: If Tommy Tuberville just agreed to an extension with Auburn, why would he be, as rumored, on the way to Arkansas?  It's not like Auburn is paying him JoPa money.
• Greg Robinson must be standing under the same star as Dave Wannstedt.  This kind of patience is unheard of at the D-1A level.  Proof again that there are a few places in America that still respect a man with high character who works hard and at least has an idea of where he wants to go. 
  
• Despite the fact he kept blowing engines all season, Junior is still NASCAR's most popular driver. 
  
• Brodie Croyle getting injured is no surprise to Alabama football fans.  When he was in college, he went down more often than a head cheerleader at a frat party.
• The Chicago Blackhawks are so far off the radar screen in Chicago, one of their players was arrested (for looking like a robbery suspect) and wasn't recognized by anyone at the police department. 
  
• Tom Osbourne apparently has deputized himself.   EDSBS  has the story.
• Today's List: USA Today's 25 years of Memorable College Football Games.