In 100 words or less, this is your oppurtunity to sound off on the world of sports.

The winner will receive a copy of the new book from Page 2 author, Ted Kluck, “The Reason for Sports : a Christian Fanifesto”

The comments will be open until 8 PM Monday night!

“Aw, I Feel Sorry For You…” is a new weekly feature here at PFB in which we look at, and feel sorry for a certain person, place or thing in the world of sports.

Aw, I Feel Sorry For You… Cleveland.
Why I Feel Sorry For You: Let’s face it Cleveland.  Despite what the Chicago Cubs fans may think, you’re the real lovable losers.  Thirteen years ago, that mean Mr. Modell picked up and moved the whole team to Baltimore. Once they got there, they won the Super Bowl and have been the playoffs several times.  You showed that you’re a fighter though. You got up, you dusted yourself off and you got yourself an NFL team again. Not only did you get an NFL team again, but you got the first pick on the draft. With that first pick, you could’ve had Donovan McNabb, Edgerin James – even Ricky Williams – but no, you went with the only sure thing in the draft. Tim Couch.  Though Couch didn’t quite work out for you, Browns fans, he did pave the way for such gunslingers as Spergon Wynn, Kelly Holcomb, Ken Dorsey, Charlie Frye and yes, even Mr. 10.5 QB Rating himself, Derek Anderson.  Sure, you should’ve made the playoffs in 2007, but it’s time to move on. I won’t even get started on the fact that your former coach is now the coach in New England and a sure fire Hall of Famer, or that you could’ve had their legendary QB, Tom Brady – but no… you went with Spergon Wynn instead. Its okay Browns fans.

At least you’re not the Indians. The Indians only World Series victory in the past 50 years came in a movie starring Wesley Snipes, Charlie Sheen and that Allstate guy. I’m sure it’s been painful to watch former Indians, like Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome go on to win World Series championships. It was probably even more painful to watch game 1 of the 2009 World Series and see your former #1 and #2 Pitchers dueling it out against each other. C.C. Sabathia? That fat cow. Come on guys, you got MATT LAPORTA out of the deal.  Hey, you guys could’ve had a proven winner as a new manager, someone like Bobby Valentine, Don Mattingly or John Farrell. No, you went a different route all together. You went with Manny Acta. The same man who was fired from the Nationals for losing too much. It’s okay. I’m sure you were just following in the footsteps of the Browns (see also Mangini, Eric).

Why You Should Feel Good About Yourself, Cleveland: I know, things are rough. However, don’t beat yourself up too much. You’re still home to King James… well, actually that’s Akron – but he plays in Cleveland! This is your year, Cleveland. Not only do you have Lebron, but you’ve brought in Shaq. Sure, he’s never played in a cold city, has injury problems and has never played the sidekick role well, He’s won championships. He knows what it takes to win.  In fact, I’m going to predict it. This is the year you win the NBA Championship (it should in no way concern you I picked the Indians the play in the World Series against the Cubs this season).

Maybe basketball isn’t your thing? Well, there’s always the USL soccer team, Cleveland City Stars. It didn’t work out too well for them in 2009 in the USL-1, but in 2008 they won the USL-2 Championship! That’s a Football championship in Cleveland. You’ve got take what you can get, right?

Not only do you have winning professional sports teams, you’ve got two of the top high school football programs in the state, St. Ignatius High School (9-0) and Cleveland Glenville (8-1, and produced former Heisman tropy winner, Troy Smith).

If culture is more your thing, there’s the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. You’re also home to Iron Chef Michael Symon’s restaurants Lola and Lolita. Perhaps you like the parade your liberties? May I suggest Great Lakes Brewing Co.? You’ve also given us, the rest of America, a taste of your Midwestern life with such classics as The Drew Carey Show, A Christmas Story and Howard the Duck.

Cheer up my neighbor to the north. You’re a good thing.

How I’m Going to Show My Love For You: I will root for you Cleveland. I will root for you hard. In fact, I’ll even let out a little bark every now and then. Maybe even bang the battle drum. I will pray that Lebron returns to Cleveland instead of running away for the biggest buck in New York or Los Angeles. Tonight, I will eat pierogis in your honor Cleveland.

Aw, Cleveland, I Feel Sorry For You.

Quick Overview:  I read  “A Few Seconds of Panic” by Stefan Fatsis last year, but in August the book was released in paperback.  The book was a great read and I feel that many of you would enjoy it as well.  Fatsis had the opportunity to live the dream that many of us dream, he had the chance to play on a professional sports team. While never truly being on the roster (due to the No Fun League), Fatsis goes through the rigors of a NFL training camp as a kicker with the Denver Broncos and becomes a part of their team.  He is definitely an athlete as he becomes a seemingly effective kicker from inside 40 yards but the great part of the story was getting to know his teammates.  While some of the players have no desire to open up to a writer, many make time for Fatsis and let their guards down.  That’s what makes this book great, getting to see the athletes as they really are.

Why you should pick it up: One thing that really stood out to me was the fact that these professional football players, who many of us would want to switch places with, were questioning their career/job choice as much as I have since high school. Most of the players had become apathetic to the NFL and to football but continued to play because it was what they built their entire lives around and how they made a living. When following professional athletes, I never thought about them struggling with the questions of whether or not playing sports was their “calling”.

Redemptive?:  This encouraged me to know that no matter where we are, we are going to run into difficulties determining our unique callings on this earth.  Even the most gifted professional athletes were struggling with this question. Many Christian books have attempted to answer the question of calling without necessarily answering the question.  While Fatsis does not speak specifically about callings, he allows us to get inside the professional athlete’s heart and give us the chance to see them as human beings. Who have unanswered questions just like us.

It’s Monday morning. That time of the week that well all hate. The inbox is getting full again. The phone won’t quit ringing. The grind is getting… grindier. However, with every Monday morning comes a lot of sports talk. Spent the entire weekend trying to pick out the right Ed Hardy shirt for your Jon Goselin Halloween costume? Had too many pieces of Candy Corn? Missed the weekend in sports? I’ve got just the thing for you.  Here are your talking points for this weekend in sports at the Monday Morning Water Cooler.

Friday Night saw the West Virginia Mountaineers lose at the hands of South Florida. You can make up the stats about this one if you want, your coworkers probably didn’t watch it either.

Tim Tebow broke the SEC All Time Rushing Touchdown record previously held by Georgia Bulldog legend Herschel Walker and all eight of his personalities. Did I mention that Tim Tebow broke that record against Georgia?  Did we also mention that Georgia wore black helmets for the first time in school history?

The New York Yankees went up 2 games to 1 over the Phillies. A-Rod continues to show the media that the average sports fan just doesn’t care about PED’s in baseball. I would go further, but the thought of the Yankees winning another World Series makes me vomit.

Speaking of vomit, that classic image of tennis great Andre Agassi with his long hair flowing, striking the ball with his racquet? Yeah, well… it wasn’t actually his hair. It was a wig. One can only hope that next we hear that his relationship with Barbara Streisand was fake too.

The USC Trojans got D-E-S-T-R-O-Y-E-D DESTROYED by the Oregon Ducks hand the men of Troy their worst loss in over a decade. And all God’s people said….

Cleveland Cavaliers won their first game of the season on Friday night with a victory over the Milwaukee Bucks AND their second win on Saturday night against the Charlotte Bobcats.  Not to be outdone, the Akron Blast Under-12 AAU team also picked up their first win of the season on Sunday night against the Charlotte Bobcats.

Jamie McMurray won this weekend’s race at Talladega after NASCAR placed a ban on bump drafting. Jimmie Johnson finished sixth and likely wrapped up his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup Championship in the process. This puts to bed the scientific theory of Ricky Bobby, “If you’re not first, you’re last.”

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, Brett Favre returned to Green Bay for the first time since becoming a Viking. In doing so, he also beat his former team for the 2^nd time this season. The people of Wisconsin haven’t been this heartbroken since Lavern and Shirley was canceled.

A great high school game was played on Sunday afternoon in which two teams battled it out for four great quarters…. Wait? The St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions aren’t high school teams? Hm. Oh well. Rams won.

Also in games no one was watching, Real Salt Lake defeated defending MLS Cup Champion Columbus Crew in the 88^th minute to go up 1-0 in their playoff series. I have no smart comment to make here, other than the fact that I will be covering the Crew game on Thursday night live and in person for PFB.

In other soccer news, Liverpool lost to Fulham 3-1. I… have no idea what I’m talking about. Anyone want to write on EPL? Thanks!

NHL hot shot Alex Ovechkin was injured and taken out of the game on Sunday evening in the losing effort against the Columbus Blue Jackets.  No word on how long he will be out. In fact, this story may not be important, but I just wanted to point out the Jackets defeated the Caps in Washington.

Alright folks, this should get you covered enough to make some small talk at the water cooler this morning. If you run out of things to talk about, it’s quite possible you need to put down the little paper cone and get to work.

So, it’s been a little bit longer than I originally anticipated. I greatly apologize if you’ve missed your PFB Daily Dosage… but have no fear; we’re coming back on November 2, 2009 at 8:00 AM EST.

We have some pretty big festivities lined up for the week ahead. Not only will we be providing you with all the sports news we can think of, we’re also going to be unveiling new columns from myself, as well as our newest writers, Eric Geisbert , Matt Ralph and Michael Terry. We’ll also have the first ever “Ask Dr. D” mailbag, the return of Truth and Lies and our new Friday feature, “The Airing of Grievances”. Here’s how it works:

+”The Airing of Grievances” is you, the sports fans, chance to sound off on the world of sports in 100 words or less.

+We’ll open a thread on Friday Morning for you to air your frustrations in the comments section.

+The Grievances will be open from 8:00 AM EST until 7:00 PM EST.

+The PFB Staff will then convene, vote on our favorite Grievance and the winner will receive one of our special giveaways we have planned.

What Giveaways you ask?

We here at PFB have hooked up with some of the best up and coming authors and musicians around the country to provide you with the oppurtunity to sample their goods before anyone else!

So a fortnight turned into a little longer, but hey, it’ll all be worth it in the end.

Until we meet again….

What’s the first thing you think of when you see this t-shirt?

Do you see the trademark blue on white stripe that adorns PSU’s helmets?

or do you see a cross, like the one Jesus was crucified on a couple thousand years ago?

According to the folks at FOX News, a minor controversy has been stirred up over the shirts.

What do you think? Something to be bothered by or much ado about nothing?

Personally, I’d like to hear Joe Paterno’s take on the tshirts.

He was, after all, alive during the crucifixion.

Also, unable to write their BCS Preview due to family issues of his own were Michael Terry. Michael’s family issues were however joyous as he and wife Jen welcomed to the world their first child, Eustace Clarence Terry this evening. Congrats Terry’s!

We’ll be back on Monday with a huge Truth and Lies and columns and the PFB Mailbag!

Contributed by PFB Member, Eric Geisbert

Week 3 in the ACC has several intriguing match-ups. While a couple of non-conference contest this
week cannot bring the ACC back to being a legit BCS conference, Nebraska – Virginia Tech, Florida
State – BYU and East Carolina – UNC could all help the cause. On the flip side, there are also several
games against Football Championship Subdivision opponents, who already this season have beaten
Duke and UVA and scared two others, FSU and Maryland. Losses to FCS opponents would continue
the ACC’s fall from respectability. Also, on Thursday night Georgia Tech faces Miami in the ACC
game of the week.
Georgia Tech at Miami – This Thursday night on ESPN, we have a match up between the two top
offenses in the ACC. Georgia Tech has gained an average of 457 yard per game and Miami in its only
contest (a win against Florida State) had 476. So, what will decide this game? Miami’s run defense
and Georgia Tech’s ability to run the football. Georgia Tech runs the triple option and would love to
not throw the football at all. However, if Miami can stop Georgia Tech’s run game and move the
football down the field like they did against Florida State, Miami will win 31 – 27.
Nebraska at Virginia Tech – Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg, Virginia the Nebraska Cornhuskers
come to town. Both teams are ranked in the Top 20, Tech is 13 and Nebraska is 19. However, neither
team has played and beaten a talented opponent. Nebraska has started the season 2 – 0 beating Florida
Atlantic and Arkansas State while Virginia Tech, who has a record of (1-1), lost to #5 Alabama and beat
Marshall. This looks to be a perfect game for Tech to make a statement. Virginia Tech gets ahead early
thanks to the Lane Stadium crowd and Tech beats Nebraska 24 – 21.

Boston College at Clemson – At noon on Saturday Boston College (2-0) takes on Clemson (1-1) in
Death Valley. Clemson is coming off a close loss to Georgia Tech last Thursday night. While, BC has
looked impressive in their first two games this season winning by a combined score of 88 – 7 against
Northeastern and Kent State. Unfortunately, even with these two blowouts BC still hasn’t figured out
which freshman quarterback, Justin Tuggle a redshirt freshman or 25 year old freshman Dave Shinskie,
will get all of the snaps against Clemson. Expect either of these two quarterbacks to have a tough time
in Death Valley. With Clemson’s explosiveness at running back, see C.J. Spiller, and BC’s lack of a
strong quarterback, Clemson wins 24 – 10.

FSU at BYU – After defeating Oklahoma 14-13 during the season’s open weekend, BYU has become
this season mid major that hopes to wreak havoc on the BCS. Florida State opened the season with a
loss at home against rival Miami 38 – 34 and then was almost upset last weekend by another FCS
opponent Jacksonville State. FSU will have a difficult time in Provo, BYU wins 20 – 7.
Duke at Kansas – This would be a great match up if it was March and these two teams were playing in
the NCAA tournament. Well, its not March and Duke has already lost to a FCS opponent (Richmond,
who by the way is #1 in the FCS latest poll). For Duke to have a chance against Kansas they are
talking about needing to play the perfect game (rivals.com). Perfect? Jesus is perfect, Duke is not,
they lose to Kansas 42 – 20.

MTSU at Maryland – Last year Maryland traveled to Murfreesboro, TN but forgot to get off the bus
losing to Middle Tennessee State 24 – 14. Last week the Terps pulled out a overtime victory 38 – 35
over James Madison a FCS opponent (see the trend). MTSU makes it close but the Terps win 30 – 28.
East Carolina at UNC – UNC was without 3 offensive starters in its win over UCONN, 12 – 10, last
weekend. Those 3 starters may not back for the game against ECU, but due to the Tar Heels defense
UNC wins 15 – 10.

UVA at Southern Miss – Its very early in the season but Virginia is looking like a team that could go
the entire season without a victory. After losing to William and Mary (another FCS opponent) and then
TCU, the only thing UVA can hope for is that Southern Miss is looking ahead to next week when they
play Kansas. Southern Miss wins 28 – 17.

Gardner-Webb at NCST – Here’s hoping the the FCS bug, doesn’t catch State. NCST wins 24 – 14.

Elon at Wake Forest – Thanks to the ACC this season these games have become difficult to predict.
Elon’s campus is about an hour from Winston-Salem and Wake definitely hasn’t looked strong against
its first two opponents, a lost at home to Baylor (21 – 24) and a win at home against Stanford (24 – 17).
Wake coach Jim Grobe is reportedly carrying around a list of FCS upsets of higher division opponents
(rivals.com). Wake gets the message and the victory 27 – 17.

Putting Football in its Place:
(This section will highlight a player from the ACC who is using
their athletic standing to glorify God)
Tyrod Taylor, quarterback, Virginia Tech
“Taylor volunteers at Herma’s Readers, an organization founded by Hokies coach Frank Beamer which
donates books to local schools. He also regularly visits patients at local hospitals and has served as
speaker for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, talking to students about faith.”
(This is from a press release for the Allstate / AFCA Good Works Team®.)