A lot to smile about

Smiling about...

The Lakers knocking off San Antonio, last night, beefing up the record to 14-6. Odom turning in yet another near-triple-double, Kobe setting the pace, and a huge contribution from Luke Walton. Interesting note, looking at the box score, Kwame didn't have a single defensive rebound. All five of his boards were on the offensive glass. There's good and bad to be derived from that. Now, though, the first test comes. Having played all of three games away from Staples Center, the next 8 of 10 games are on the road. Fortunately, it's mostly Eastern Conference teams (zing!), but to me, this team is still something of an unknown quantity. They look great at home, yes, but we'll see if that carries away to Western forces Dallas and Houston. Colin Cowherd said on his show, this morning, that the Lakers have no business being as good as they are. The thing is, though, that Cowherd doesn't watch the NBA. He doesn't. He doesn't have a clue other than what he see on the highlights and the occassional Knicks game. But the Lakers do have something cooking, here. This is a team that has shown a couple times, now, that they don't fall apart without Kobe. But as I mentioned, their road form is still a mystery and they have a tendancy to start chucking bad shots and 3s when facing a zone defense. It's a matter of discipline.

Smiling about...

Liverpool putting up back-to-back 4-goal wins in the league, whipping on Fulham this time. I said a while back that when Liverpool started this 7-game run that began with Middlesbrough, they needed to claim at least 19 of 21 points. Five games through, they're on track for 17 of 21. Given how mediocre the rest of the league has looked, (Man Poo and Chelski -- and even Arsenal -- aside), third place still looks a good bet for the Reds. Up next: Charlton. That should be a third straight 4-0 win.

Smiling about...

The Colts and Cowboys getting thrashed yesterday. And hey, the Raiders didn't lose by 30 to the Bengals... just by 17. Same old story for Oakland, though: the defense forces turnovers and the offense craps the bed. But back to the Colts and Cowboys getting rolled (this is going to feel good): told you so. And expect the same from both in the playoffs. Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor were both over 100 yards rushing, yesterday, by HALFTIME! The Colts aren't going anywhere, this season. As far as the Cowboys go, like I said, they simply cannot keep up with that Saints offense.

Suddenly, the Superbowl is beginning to look like the "Drew Brees Bowl," as San Diego and the Saints are looking like the two strongest sides. The way this season is going, though, I wouldn't bet on them meeting in February. I'm telling you, Schottenheimer is still on the sideline and that spells calamity down the road. And still, no one is talking about Baltimore as a Superbowl team!

Lastly, Denver looks dead (woohoo!) and those aren't your older brother's Patriots. The steady downgrades in talent at the skill positions in New England are more evident than ever. They could be in a lot of trouble during the Wild Card round in the playoffs.