Good start in the NFL is vital

With a relatively short 16-game schedule, how a team starts its season is very important in the National Football League.

Historically, teams that have started 2-0 have reached the playoffs 66 percent of the time, including 6 out of 7 last year. Teams that started 0-2 made it at a rate of only 13 percent, with the last one being Philadelphia in 2003. So you might as well look at the standings right now to get a good idea of who is and isn't going to make it into the postseason this year.

The biggest surprise at 0-2, even without injured star receiver Steve Smith, is Super Bowl hopeful Carolina. The saddest part for the Panthers is that they would be 1-1, if not for the stupidity of their usually reliable head coach John Fox.

Fox didn't know that the best time to try a trick play is when you are losing a game, not winning it. In the NFL it's hard enough to get the score and momentum in your favor, and you don't want to do anything foolish when you have control of both. But with a 13-6 fourth quarter lead, Fox called for a risky punt return lateral pass on his team's side of the field that backfired miserably. Minnesota seized the opportunity to tie the game with a trick play of their own, a fake field goal executed to perfection that led to the overtime victory.

HEDGING YOUR BETS

The sports books got hammered last weekend, as numerous people cashed in wagers on the NFL. Many of them had tickets alive Sunday afternoon with only one more side or total remaining to complete their parlays. Those people were in position to hedge their bets.

If you had only Washington left for a parlay, you could have made a straight bet on Dallas, or vice versa, in order to ensure winning money no matter what the final score was. As long as you don't set it up so there is a final score where you could lose both your original and hedge bets, it's a good insurance policy. If your ticket is a teaser bet, you could win both bets. It's always a shame to watch a potentially good ticket become a complete waste, so my advice is to, by all means, hedge those big parlays. To do otherwise is being unwise and/or greedy.

RYDER CUP

Golf's pressure-packed Ryder Cup competition begins today at the K Club in Straffon, County Kildare, Ireland, just outside of Dublin. Once every two years the United States and Europe square off in this match play competition that recently has become quite intense.

The first shots this year came courtesy of British tabloids, who called the American players' wives cheap tramps and floozies, associated Tiger Woods' wife Elin Nordegren with porn sites, and published nude photos of a woman that allegedly was Nordegren, but really wasn't. Welcome to Britain and the Ryder Cup.

Prediction - Europe -1/2 defeats the United States.

Europe has dominated Ryder Cup competitions, winning 4 out of the last 5, and two consecutive. The last time Europe lost at home was in 1993. In 2004 on U.S. soil, Europe won 18 1/2 - 9 1/2, their largest victory ever.

This could be the strongest European team yet, and it will be inspired by sentimental and captain's choice Darren Clarke. His wife died of breast cancer Aug. 13.

This is the youngest U.S. team ever with four rookies, including two who have never participated in match play competition as professionals. The visiting Americans are at a disadvantage in that the European Open is played on this course every year. Also, Tiger Woods' overall record in the Ryder Cup is 4 matches below .500. If the rain and wind come in as forecast, their task will become even tougher.