Sports fodder for a Friday morning ... What should we expect out of the Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball team this season? A season much like the last three (21 victories and a minor tournament berth) is a reasonable demand for a program that needs to find four new starters. The Western Athletic Conference lost a ton of talent off last year's rosters so everybody (except Utah State, which returns four starters) is kind of starting fresh this year. The Wolf Pack might be the most athletic team in the WAC this year. That alone will make this an exciting and interesting winter at Lawlor Events Center.
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If you want to see the Wolf Pack football team get to a Bowl Championship Series game this holiday season you better start rooting against Utah and TCU of the Mountain West Conference. The Pack's biggest enemies right now are not the giants from the BCS Conferences. It's the unbeaten teams from the non-BCS automatic qualifiers (TCU and Utah). TCU plays at Utah on Nov. 6 so one of those teams will get knocked out of the BCS picture. And both teams still have to play Air Force. So there is hope, Pack fans. It can happen, no matter what ESPN says.
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It doesn't look like anybody can win a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, let alone four of seven. But anytime you have Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez, you have a fighting chance in a seven-game series. If the San Francisco Giants steal one of the first two games on the road, look out. Jonathan Sanchez has already beaten Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels this year. Hamels has given up nine runs in 11 innings to the Giants this year. Forget Tim Lincecum against Roy Halladay in Game 1. That's just for the TV ratings and Hall of Fame voters. This series will be decided in Games 2-4 when Sanchez, Cain and Madison Bumgarner go up against Roy Oswalt, Hamels and Joe Blanton.
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The Phillies are the best team in baseball right now. No question. But if the Giants get past the Phillies, you would have to love their chances in the World Series. The Giants can simply out-pitch both the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers, especially since four of the games would be in the Bay area. I know. I know. That's sort of like worrying about a Wolf Pack BCS bowl berth before they beat Boise State, isn't it?
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What do Charlie Batch, Dennis Dixon, Todd Collins, Seneca Wallace, Max Hall and Shaun Hill have in common? They have all started and won a game at quarterback this NFL season. Alex Smith of the San Francisco 49ers cannot say the same thing. Welcome to The Twilight Zone, 49er fans. Nobody saw this 0-5 start coming. But don't go blaming all of this mess on Smith. We're still very confident that he can grow up to be Charlie Batch someday.
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The 49ers' bigger problem rests with head coach Mike Singletary. Singletary doesn't even trust himself anymore. Last Sunday he told Smith during the game that he was being benched. Smith then talked Singletary out of it and went back in the game (and played well). Should a quarterback like Smith talk a head coach out of anything? Maybe Singletary was just testing Smith to see if he had enough confidence left to fight for his job. Maybe. Or maybe he just realized that he was about to send David Carr in the game.
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The Texas Rangers celebrated with teammate Josh Hamilton this week by spraying ginger ale all over him after their Division Series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. It allowed Hamilton, who has had serious problems with drugs and alcohol in his life, an opportunity to celebrate with his teammates. It was a nice moment. Major league baseball should now take that moment and run with it. They should ban all alcohol from all locker room celebrations at least as long as the TV cameras are present. Young baseball fans don't need to see their heroes swilling champagne and beer and they should see that it is indeed possible to have a good time without alcohol.