It's Tuesday again

The weekend is over officially for the NFL but we'll discuss that shortly....

- It's a very sad situation at Penn State right now with the school's athletic director and vice president both resigned as the underage sex scandal grows bigger. Things were covered up for sure and someone else is going to take the fall for this. Joe Pa will need to go now, a sad way to end a great career if it goes that way.
- It was a bad season for the Minnesota Twins and now GM Bill Smith has taken the fall with his firing Monday and former GM Terry Ryan returns. The Twinkies need the power of Mauer and Morneau to return if this team wants to compete in the AL Central because the teams keep getting better around them.
- We continue baseball with the Royals trading Melky Cabrera to San Fran for pitcher Jonathan Sanchez. This is a great trade for Kansas City, give them 2 more years and watch out. Billy Butler, Eric Hosmer and company are going to win the division by 2014. Too much talent to use or to trade to get better talent.
- Here's the latest on the NBA lockout, it's still happening...no one is talking productively and I'm going to predict this now. The lockout will extend into the 2012-13 season, this is too ugly to even get fixed in a year.
- Now back to the NFL, we finish Week 9 Monday and start Week 10 Thursday night. You get teams with 3 days rest playing each other, that could be interesting or just plain bad. You want Thursday games? Do it every week then. Look at Week 16, there will be games on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. That is also for fantasy football players their championship week, get your Tums ready.
- Sad night in the world of sports as former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier passed away. Frazier gave boxing fans three of the best fights ever against Muhammad Ali. During the day Monday, it was reported that fans were offering parts of their livers to help Frazier with his liver cancer. There is probably a match in the sky right now between Frazier and Joe Louis.

Fantasy Player of the Day: Boston F Nathan Horton
Horton scored twice and had an assist as the Bruins got their third straight win with a 6-2 win against the Islanders.

Matchup to Watch: Northern Illinois at Bowling Green, 7 p.m. (CT), ESPN2
The Huskies racked up 63 points last week in their win over Toledo, now they travel down I-75 to Bowling Green. Can they get to 63 again? Probably not but not much else is on worthwhile.

This Date in History: Nov. 8, 1970
New Orleans Saints kicker Tom Dempsey kicks a NFL-record 63-yard field goal to give the Saints a 19-17 win over the Detroit Lions. Dempsey was born with no toes on his right foot and no fingers on his right hand so Dempsey wore a special square shoe. No one has topped 63 yards since even though the record has been tied twice.

Time for a new direction

We begin fresh today with 9 sports-related topics which will include each day, this date in history, fantasy player of the week and matchup to watch.....

- The Cubs completed their Dream Team in the front office with Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod's news conference. Will those moves along with Theo Epstein make any difference? You would think so at least upstairs, now if the three of them can figure out how to get rid of Soriano and Zambrano.
- T.J. Houshmandzadeh is back, this time with the Raiders. A reunion with Carson Palmer as well. Oakland has a great running game and if they can get the passing game on track, a West Division title is in the offing.
- The NBA season didn't start on time Tuesday, ruining a title celebration in Dallas and the beginning of what Miami might do next with LeBron, D-Wade and Bosh. Neither side seems to care about what the fans want, might want to think that one over guys.
- The Big East appears ready to replace all their losses with six fresh schools including Boise State. What's next, a conference that goes from coast to coast? Just put Hawaii with South Florida in a conference while you are at it. Realignment has got out of hand, too bad it can't just be geographic but money is the all mighty game-changer.
-What is going on with the Red Wings? Five straight losses after Tuesday's defeat to the Wild. Five goals in five games won't work in the Motor City. Scoring had better improve and you can be sure it will.
- Game of the night Tuesday was Northern Illinois at Toledo. 63-60! 1,100 yards of offense! Seems like the glass broke inside the Glass Bowl with all that offense and zero defense. 11 touchdown passes were thrown, two kicks were returned for touchdowns as well. A ESPN Classic if ever to find one.

Fantasy Player of the Day: Toledo WR Eric Page
Back to the NIU-Toledo Game we go again, Page had nine catches for 155 yards and five touchdowns. The 5 TDs was more than Page had in his first eight games this season. Page also topped 3,000 career receiving yards in the loss.

Matchup to Watch: Philadelphia (6-4-1) at Buffalo (6-4-0), 6:30 p.m. (CT), Versus
The Flyers and Sabres match up in the birthplace of wings. Buffalo has struggled recently after winning four of their first five games of the season as this is a rematch of last season's Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

This Day in History: Nov. 2, 1969
In going with the high-scoring theme, New Orleans QB Billy Kilmer and St. Louis QB Charley Johnson each threw six TD passes as the Saints won 51-42 to win their first game of the season.