FOOTBALL

In the NFL, it was Monday Night Football between the Chicago Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles.  The Eagles trounced the Cowboys last week on national TV, showing the world that they are now a force to be reckoned with again — that they were going to make a second half playoff run.  Their next victim was to be the Bears.  But… the Bears are no slouch this season.  They were ready.   Quarterback Jay Cutler came out and put them up 10-0 right away.  But, the Eagles would come soaring back, and thanks to a strong rushing attack led by LeSean McCoy, they jumped out to a 24-17 lead in the 3rd quarter.  A safe lead, except… we had an Earl Bennett sighting in Chicago.  That’s right, the former Vanderbilt receiver, who was supposed to have the same connection in Chicago with his QB at Vandy (Jay Cutler), finally caught fire.  He caught a key touchdown to put the Bears up 27-24, and they could hold onto the lead.  That puts the Eagles at 3-5 and 3 games back out of first place.  Chicago 30, Philadelphia 24.

And in college football, Houston Nutt was brought into reinvigorate the once storied Ole Miss program.  These guys have a very classy program, where students dress up in nice clothes for the game.  Nutt did a good job when he first got there, but recently, they have been below average, and this season they’ve been just horrible — even losing to a putrid Kentucky team this past weekend.  Ole Miss decided that it was time to move on.  They need to find another coach that can help them compete in the very challenging SEC conference, where they must face LSU AND Alabama every year.  They need a new system and someone who can lead them back to a BCS Bowl appearance.

BOXING

Finally, in some sad news out of the boxing world, at the age of 67, Joe Frazier has died.  Frazier is most popular for his trio of bouts against the superstar Muhammad Ali.  Without Frazier, there would be no legend of Ali.  After all, Ali had to beat someone mighty in order to get the legend title.  In 1971, Joe Frazier got Ali again and finally beat him.  He ruled the boxing world for 2 years, until he ran into another juggernaut, George Foreman.  Foreman beat Frazier, but then Frazier got a rematch with Ali (who beat Foreman) in the classic Thrilla in Manilla.  Both these guys were past their prime, but they had one heck of fight.  Frazier lost, and prompted Ali to say, “I’m just happy there are no more Joe Fraziers to fight”.  He was a true legend not only in the boxing world, but to sports in general.