September... Ahh... September. I remember back to the days before I moved to Arizona. September is that time of year when leaves begin their annual deed to turn and fall from the trees, when the local swimming hole turns unfavorable, when the days get shorter while we are warned that soon the winds will get nipplier. September ushers in Autumn which means: Oh, so many marvelous things are coming soon!

The local department store is preparing their Christmas displays, the few remaining farmers of the great land begin their great harvest, the local school's bus stops are crowding up in the morning hours and football is ON!!! Before you know it, NBA and NHL teams will start to gather for training camp and the New York Yankees will be making golf reservations in Scottsdale and chartering fishing boats in the Gulf of Mexico.

But more important than all of these - September is the month when baseball lore is forged. If not for the Stalwarts of September there can be no Heroes of October. September is when leads are extended or choked away. September is when the 162 game season rears it's ugliness - when star players succumb to the daily rigors and burn out down the stretch and where newly minted rookies dig deep and find unknown talents and powers to push themselves into legends to be told for decades. It's when the Boys of Summer evolve into winners or losers. When the wheat is done growing and it's time to separate it from the chaff...

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Chuck Liddell was the UFC light heavyweight champion for 3 years, until his loss to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in April of 2007. Since then, he has been set back again by a loss to Keith Jardine, but then jumped right back into the spotlight with a win over Wanderlei Silva.

Now, Liddell is in a position to get what he wants. His UFC 88 opponent Rashad Evans (16-0-1) is the only think that stands between Liddell and another shot at the title. Evans is coming off a split decision win over Michael Bisping, and a controversial draw with Tito Ortiz, in a fight that many thought Evans should have won.

No matter what happens, it's hard to see this fight going the distance. Liddell and Evans are both masterful knockout artists, and both will looking for their chance to land a huge shot whenever they can.
Prediction: Liddell by TKO, 2nd round

In the other huge fight of the night, former middleweight champ Rich Franklin is moving back up to light heavyweight to fight Matt Hamill. Hamill's last fight was a convincing TKO over Tim Boetsch. But in his previous fight, he lost a very controversial decision to hometown favorite Michael Bisping a year ago at UFC 75 in London. Hamill is on the warpath now, and I think that we'll see that he's a lot better than people think.
Prediction: Hamill by decision

Speaking of UFC 75, the main event on that card was Liddell vs Pride Champion Dan Henderson. Henderson was the Pride champion at both middleweight and light heavyweight, and came to the UFC to fight the best in each division. Rampage destroyed him in an easy decision in London, and then Anderson Silva made him tap in the 2nd round to ruin Henderson's chances at retaining either title.

But don't get confused... Henderson is still a great fighter. He just happened to make the switch to the UFC at a very bad time. Both Jackson and Silva were at a point where they were dominating anyone who crossed their paths, and were 2 of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. In UFC 88, Henderson is fighting Rousimar Palhares. Palhares is a Brazilian submission expert (almost a redundancy, I know). The good news for Henderson is that he is sticking at middleweight. I think that 185 is a great weight for him, and while he may never be able to beat Silva at this point, he can definitely do some damage in this division.
Prediction: Henderson by TKO, 3rd round


Other Fights:
Martin Kampmann vs Nate Marquardt (MW)
Thiago Taveres vs Kurt Pellegrino (LW)
Tim Boetsch vs Michael Patt (LHW)
Dong Hyun Kim vs Matt Brown (WW)
Jason Lambert vs Jason MacDonald (MW)
Roan Carneiro vs Ryo Chonan (WW)


Give us your predictions, and which matchups you're most (or least) excited about. This looks like a great card, and the UFC is really doing a great job of getting several quality fights on each card. We'd love to hear your take.

Lance Armstrong says the ladies have no complaints about him. Really? I can think of at least one complaint. [Deadspin]

The NFL is teaming up with video games to give us interactive analysis, or something. [Gawker]

Coincidentally, the most dangerous cities in America also have the worst football teams. [Sportaphile]

You can buy a Shea Stadium seat for the low, low price of $869. I'll take zero. [AP]

In defense of Barry Bonds. [New York Times]

ESPN apparently likes claiming that they broke stories that they didn't break at all. I'm SHOCKED! I mean, they broke the Favre story didn't they? Oh wait, no they didn't do that either. [Fanhouse]

Mr. Met is now fighting online sexual predators. Why? For the kids man, for the kids. [Daily News]

As was mentioned earlier today, Novak Djokovic beat Andy Roddick last night and was met by a cacophony of boos when he decided to take a shot at Roddick in the post match interview. Djokovic was pretty steamed about Roddick mocking his penchant for complaining about injuries over and over again.

And here were Djokovic's exact words about Roddick poking fun at him.


Now, that's all well and good. And maybe Djokovic has a point. But you know the old saying, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone", right? Yeah, that's not Djokovic.

Last year at the US Open, Djokovic put on his own display mocking Roddick, along with a number of other players, in the players locker room, as you can see below.



Considering this video has been viewed over 2 million times, I'd actually say that Djokovic has the upper hand on Roddick in terms of mockery. Especially considering no one is watching the US Open this year.

So yeah, Djokovic loves mocking other tennis players, but hates it when they mock him. Which makes Djokovic about the same as a politician - as in he's a complete hypocrite - except that he gets more work done.

Novak Djokovic hates mockery [Real Clear Sports]

Angelo Crowell as entering his fourth year as a starting outside linebacker for the Buffalo Bills. He's been battling some knee pain and missed a few days of practice this preseason, but hadn't sat out of drills for the last week. Everything's fine, right, he'll just play through the minor injury?

Well, that's what the Bills were thinking, but apparently not Crowell. The sixth year linebacker decided to inform the team just three days before the season that he's getting arthroscopic knee surgery on his left knee. That tends to not go over well.


Such a surgery only requires one to four weeks of downtime, so he'll be back very soon. Right? Wrong.

The Bills were clearly displeased with Crowell's lack of communication and surprised their outside linebacker with a season long trip to the Injured Reserve list. Once a player is placed on the list, he can't be taken off until the following season and thus can't compete in any NFL games.

Bills 1, Crowell 0. Although opposing teams may be scoring a few extra points themselves.

Crowell surprises Bills with surgery [BuffaloNews]