Tuesday sports update - the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat

So first, let’s talk about my teams – I know, I know, but honestly my teams were big news this week. My personal box score on the week, 1-2  – talk about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat! 

Panthers - While I’ve been patient this year as I know they are rebuilding, this week they should have won. They had it won, and they shot themselves in the foot repeatedly. In fact, I’m wondering if someone did shoot kicker Olindo Mare in the foot before he missed a chip shot that would have sent the game to overtime. Cam still looks pretty good, but talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Saints – UGH! Really? You bludgeon the Colts 62-7 on a Sunday night and then come back a week later and hand the 0-6 Rams their first win? Don’t really know what to say, except HUH? 

And then there was the Steelers – Patriots game. The other two I expected my teams to win, but not this one. I was emotionally prepared for the loss, but lo and behold, the Steelers D looks like the Steelers of old, Tom Brady spends a lot of time looking up at the sky (woohoo!) and they get a decisive if improbable win. Yeehah! The power rankings have them at #2 again and the pundits are talking about a Super Bowl rematch. I say not so fast, but still it was fun for this week!

In other parts of the NFL:

• The Dolphins and the Colts remain winless, although the fish came close and would have had the win without another come-back win by Eli Manning and the Giants
• The Ravens barely eked out a win over Arizona and only after a huge come-back of their own
• Buffalo, San Francisco, Cincinnati and Detroit continue their surprising runs, with the Lions seeming to get back on track this week after losing the previous two
• Tebow had a really rough day – the nay-sayers are back in force
• The Chargers and Eagles continued to prove out my Jekyll and Hyde theory – Eagles (Jekyll) looked great, THIS week but the Chargers (Hyde) didn’t really show up and lost to the Chiefs in overtime – another head-scratcher, sort of
• The Redskins seem permanently stuck in Hyde-land now, shut out by the Bills…in Toronto

In other sporting news, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) year-end championships came to a close with #3 Petra Kvitova (Czech, and defending Wimbledon champion) defeating #4 Victoria Azarenka (Russia). Meanwhile, most of the top men (sans Nadal) are playing an indoor hard court tournament in Federer’s home town of Basel, Switzerland. Fed and Djokovic are both through the first round already. Both looked a little rusty after significant time off due to injury and the need for rest after a grueling US Open, but they got it done. Go Roger!!! : )