The Fox Hole: Monday, October 5th

It's tough to sort out the penalty calls from yesterday's Pats-Ravens tilt at Foxboro. Ray Lewis is exasperated that the officials aren't letting his team play the game the way they want to, and TV talking heads Rodney Harrison and Tony Dungy agree with him. Is Ray Lewis right? I mean, the TV guys agree with him! Let's remember folks: Harrison and Dungy are both former defensive backs. Of course they're going to agree with Lewis about the state of defensive penalties in the NFL. Doesn't mean they're right. At least as far as the rules dictate. The rulebook was re-written to prevent quarterback injuries like the ones that happened to Brady and Carson Palmer, and those penalties will be called league-wide from now on. Granted, Brady went a little overboard gesturing for the ref to throw the flag, but what the heck was Terrell Suggs doing going after Brady's knees? Did he trip? Was he knocked down? No, he went in for a cheap shot on the quarterback, and he was penalized because now, you can't take cheap shots on the quarterback. The Patriots are expected to abide by the same rules as the rest of the league (you might remember a roughing-the-passer call on Adalius Thomas for hitting Trent Edwards in the season-opener). Nobody's babying the Patriots.

Mr. Lewis: your team lost. The Pats got the job done when it counted; you guys didn't. If you have a problem with the officials, read the rulebook. Also, get a wide receiver who can catch a ball thrown at his numbers - Mark Clayton isn't supposed to have the hands of a South Boston flag football league long-snapper (yeah, brotha). All I can hear out of the Baltimore locker room is "waaaaahhhhh..."

...Meanwhile, in Celtics camp, we have a Mike Sweetney sighting. Yes - that Mike Sweetney, a guy who was a double-double machine at Georgetown earlier this decade but whose NBA career has been marred by personal issues and an expanding waistline. It's clear that he's talented: he very much looked like Glen Davis during his stints in New York and Chicago, a short, widebody power forward capable of coming off the bench, scoring in bundles and pounding the boards. But the Celtics already have Glen Davis in that role, and he's accompanied at the 4 by Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace. Sweetney might not get a shot with the C's this year, but maybe the big guy will latch on somewhere...

...Is anybody else annoyed by the fact that we have to wait until Tuesday night (after the Twins-Tigers winner is decided) to find out when the Yankees want the playoffs to start, which in turn decides when the Red Sox face the Angels in Game 1? What difference does it make whether the Yankees face the Tigers or Twins? Can we just set a playoff schedule? Would you like to start on Wednesday, or would you like to start on Thursday? Yet another unecessary debacle in MLB - but you can be sure I'll be parked on my couch for the Sox game, whenever the heck it's played...