Hardball Heaven

In the past, this weekend would have been truly glorious for both Red Sox and Patriots fans. The Sox are in the Bronx to play their arch-enemy, and the Pats travel to the swamplands of Jersey on Sunday to take on Eric Mangini and the Jets.

Unfortunately, the Sox-Yankees series has been reduced to a Papi/Jeter MVP debate, and a chance to see what some young'uns can do. All you need to know is that the Sox are throwing Kyle Snyder, Kason Gabbard, and Julian Tavarez at the potent Yankee lineup. Take the over.

On the bright side, we have our Pats, who are moving on after saying goodbye to Deion Branch. Tom Brady even said this week that his mind wasn't totally in the game last week against the Bills because he was thinking about Branch. (One more reason why you gotta love Brady - he can be honest about these things, without throwing management under the bus. Hmmmm - maybe he does have a future as a politician.)

Expect Brady to come out guns a'blazing on Sunday - the only question is who will catch the bullets. Former Raider Doug Gabriel is now in the fold, and should see plenty of time. And we're still wondering when rookie WR Chad Jackson will step foot on the field. We keep hearing about how gifted this kid is, and if he's half as good as people are saying we may have something. But he's gotta get out of the training room.

As for the Jets, of course, the big story line revolves around Bill Belichick protege Eric Mangini trying to outwit his former boss. They're not sure who their RB is -- Derrick Blaylock or Kevan Barlow -- and Chad Pennington looked pretty good last week against a poor Titans team. It will be interesting to see how good or bad the Jets are. Again, something tells me the Pats are going to be pretty fired up for this one after sleepwalking through the first half last week. Fast start, boys.

Today's a huge day for college football, with seven marquee matchups on the board, including Notre Dame-Michigan, Florida-Tennessee, Auburn-LSU, Nebraska-USC, Oregon-Oklahoma, and Miami-Louisville. Best bets: ND, Auburn and USC.

We'll have some pro predictions later today or tomorrow morning.