FOOTBALL

In the NFL, it was Monday Night Football between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens.  Both these teams come into the game as playoff veterans from last season.  The Ravens fell a field goal shy of going to the Super Bowl, and the Bengals are a team on the rise that only got better this off-season. The Ravens got on the board first with a field goal and then appeared to pull away getting a touchdown from Ray Rice and another long bomb from Ravens QB Joe Flacco to Anquan Boldin.  Then, the Benglas came back with a rushing TD from newly acquired running-back BenJarvus Green-Ellis.  It looked like it would be a close game, but… then the second half happened.  The Ravens defense was staunch, even picking off Bengals QB.  The Ravens offense just kept scoring and scoring and eventually just trounced the Bengals. The Ravens look extremely serious this year.  Add them to a list of teams that looked fantastic in Week 1.  Baltimore 44, Cincy 13.

Then, in the second half of the Monday Night Football double-header, it was an AFC West contest between the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders.  The Chargers had an off-year last season, while the Raiders were hoping to finally get over the hump and show that they are a team to be reckoned with.  But, on their home field, the Raiders simply couldn’t get anything going.  Their offense looked anemic (save for solid running-back Darren McFadden).  The Raiders D did look good, but their strong effort was in vain, as Oakland’s special teams made so many mistakes.  The Raiders were supposed to be a team in turn around, but they looked just as dysfunctional as ever.  They got a quick touchdown at the end, but it just wasn’t enough.  San Diego 22, Oakland 14.

BASKETBALL

And in some interesting news from college basketball, the Texas Tech basketball program is in the news.  Texas Tech is coached by Billy Gillispie.  A few years ago, Gillespie brought the Texas A & M program back into the limelight (when they had point guard Acie Law).  He was regarded as one of the best coaches in the game, and secured the coveted job at Kentucky.  That didn’t work out, and Kentucky moved on to now coach John Callipari.  Now Gillispie is coaching Texas Tech, but their star player, Jordan Tolbert, said he doesn’t want to play for coach Gillispie any more.  He actually said he wouldn’t.  Apparently, the players claim mistreatment from Gillispie.  The only detail in the news now is that of ‘excessive practices’.  However, when your star player is talking to the media about refusing to return to the school if the coach is there, clearly some more serious things are going on.