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Things are bleak for the Oakland Raiders right now. The owner is crazy, the new head coach thinks the second-year quarterback may be in over his head, former players think they suck ... it's mayhem out there. Of course, there are some positives in the bay area, starting with cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, who may be the closest thing the NFL currently has to a "shutdown corner."

Looking at the numbers, there's nothing that really jumps out and makes you say, "wow, that guy is awesome." He currently has 11 tackles, three passes defended and zero interceptions. You might be asking what the big deal is. Well, it's tough to bat down passes and register interceptions when nobody throws to your side of the field. From Raiders beat writer Jerry McDonald:

Asomugha recounted one pass thrown at him in each game, with the exception of the Chiefs game, when there was two. Every week he talks himself into believing it will be the game where teams will come after him, and every week he's wrong. He writes all of it down in a spiral bound notebook he showed to reporters Wednesday. "Don't get lazy because they're not throwing at you," Asomugha wrote in his book, followed by reminders of what can happen if he happens to let his guard down for even a single play.

So apparently there's some kind of debate happening at Hofstra tonight? Whatever. I'm all for being politically aware, but I'm guessing you could splice together footage from the first two debates and end up with the same result: "Change! ... Maverick! ... Change! ... Maverick!"

In the meantime, it's a freaking elimination game in the NLCS! Can Cole Hamels and the Phillies shut the door? Or will Chad Billingsley save the day for the Dodgers? Check back here in a few minutes and join us as we find out!

Maybe Brett Favre should charge NFL teams for his services as a motivational speaker. A day after the Jets quarterback called Tony Romo and told him to try and play with a broken pinkie, ESPN's Matt Mosley is reporting that Romo told the Cowboys he'll do just that against the Rams.

Romo did not practice on Wednesday but did throw the ball on the side, and according to eyewitnesses, he was able to throw the ball with good velocity and appeared confident after throwing. The session was not open to reporters.

That would leave the decision about whether or not Romo starts on Sunday up to Wade Phillips and the other coaches on the Cowboys staff. It's hard to make a judgment about Romo's status without seeing the man throw a ball but if the above reports are true, the Cowboys are in better position than it appeared earlier this week.

I wonder how much of Romo's decision was influenced by the reaction of the media and fans to Favre's call. In short, if Favre would play with an injury, why the hell are you sitting on the sidelines. It's just the Rams, after all, and Romo can lean on Marion Barber and pick his spots to get through this week without much trouble. If I had to guess, I'd say that if Favre hadn't gone live with his phone call, Romo would be on the sidelines this weekend.

Head coach Wade Phillips is finally talking about Adam "Pacman" Jones and is saying exactly what we are all thinking. Phillips thinks the Pacman era is over.

Today the Cowboys coach talked talked about Jones and the outlook seemed basically determined, as Wade said he is assuming Pacman is history and will plan accordingly.

"I can't count on him coming back or us bringing him back or any of those other things," Phillips said.

"He's gone," Phillips said. "That's what it looks like to me. I'm not saying what's going to happen in the future, because I don't know what's going to happen in the future or what is or isn't going to be done there. But I can't go there. I've got to go with the players I have."

Jones will miss at least the next four games with the Cowboys and with the way NFL commissioner Roger Goodell seems to approach these types of situations, Pacman could be, get ready for it, packing his bags in Big D. The only problem is Jerry Jones is the gavel, so if there is any wiggle room with the NFL, Jerry can probably find it.

A couple of days ago, we showed you video of the Nets' Devin Harris playing a little too casually against what turned out to be a street ball legend in London, and getting schooled/embarrassed/hustled because of it. Turns out people were blowing up his cell phone after the clip made it around the internet, wanting to know why he allowed himself to get used like that. According to Harris, he was just trying to be accommodating, and received some bad information:

"When I first went out there, they told me one of the Special Olympic kids wanted to play me one-on-one," Harris said. "So I went down there, said OK, shot jump shots or whatever.

"So he hit the first shot, and I was like, 'OK, he has a little talent.' Then he just whipped out the other thing - I was kind of confused at the point with all these dribbling moves, and before I knew it he threw it through my legs and laid it up.

"At that point it was time to go. So they had fun with it, they got me pretty good. I didn't expect it to be that popular, but it is what it is."

A "Special Olympic" kid? That's a pretty cold set up. But why was it time to go after just a couple of possessions? Once he realized what was going on, Devin should have at least taken the kid to the rack once, right? Ah, there's probably nothing to be gained by doing that, I guess. Kudos to Devin for being such a good sport about the whole thing.

The giant Citgo sign outside Fenway Park, one of baseball's most famous landmarks, caught fire this afternoon. Fortunately no one was hurt and the flames were quickly extinguished, but not before doing $5,000 worth of damage. The fire is being blamed on an electrical short circuit.

Those are the cold, hard facts. But what does it all mean?

Is this a bad omen that Boston's season is about to go up in smoke?

Or is this a sign that the Red Sox are about to catch fire and get back in this thing?

Of course, there's a third possibility: this may have been caused by a poorly design electrical circuit overheating, resulting in combustion when it reacted with the oxygen in the air and another flammable substance in a manner that is purely coincidental to the timing of (and containing no metaphysical implications toward) the baseball game that happens to be scheduled at an adjacent stadium tomorrow evening. Ah, never mind, that's just stupid.

What does it all mean?! Reveal yourselves, baseball gods!

Texans cornerback Dunta Robinson has been taken off the PUP list after recovering from torn knee ligaments, nerve damage and a hamstring that was torn off the bone during last year's game against the Raiders. He's practicing for the first time today, and by tomorrow the Texans will have a sense if he is going to play limited minutes on Sunday.

Paul Kuharsky in the ESPN NFL blog suggests that Robinson is Houston's hope on the horizon. Hmmm, seems to me that horizons by their nature are pretty far away.

I enjoy watching the intensity of Robinson's play (see YouTube above), but I don't think the Texans defense will see much improvement. First of all, if Robinson plays good ball coming off his combination of injuries suffered by a corner, it should be the biggest comeback story of the year.

This was inevitable, but Mike Lowell finally decided to quit postponing surgery on his injured right hip. He'll undergo the operation on Monday. From Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald:

Lowell was told five days ago by general manager Theo Epstein that there was a 99 percent chance he would not be placed on the World Series roster should the team make it.

"Once it was pretty clear that I was a longshot to be on the World Series roster," the decision was made, Lowell said. "I didn't want to drag it out and then see if it would affect me in the latter part of spring training. This allows me to have a full spring training and not be rushed."

Let's be frank: Lowell would be a longshot to be on the World Series roster even if he were completely healthy: the Sox are teetering on the edge of elimination down 3-1 to the Rays. So yeah, it makes sense to go ahead and fix this now.

For years Dodger fans have been labeled as some of the least involved in baseball. They came late, left early and made very little impression even as they filled the park with some of the highest attendance figures in baseball. I don't know if it was the addition of Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez but something's got the laid-back Californians in a lather these days.

Today's Los Angeles Times features an article about a perceived rise in alcohol-fueled misbehavior even as stadium security took on an increased presence in recent years. One LAPD officer interviewed by the paper as he worked the game gave a thumbs-down to the idea that a night in Chavez Ravine was appropriate for all ages.

"I wouldn't have my family here," said the officer, as he stood watch by the left-field pavilion.

Really? Dodger Stadium? That's Pat Sajak up there, for heaven's sakes! Does he ask you to fill in the missing letter of the popular phrase "I'm gonna kick your a__" to fans of other teams? That really ruins the idea I had of celebrities milling about, apathetic to the game going on, while discussing botox over brie and a crisp '02 Bordeaux. Then they'd leave early, go to a party at Hef's and make movies about talking dogs.

Happily, that image is still somewhat accurate. Robert Wuhl, star of "Arliss," was interviewed as he left in the eighth inning but if you had something to do with that show you'd probably avoid large crowds too.

(H/T BBTF)

Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin was honored at the Women's Sports Foundation's annual Salute to Women in Sports on Tuesday night in New York City. So was softball player Jessica Mendoza. Dozens of female athletes from sports ranging from basketball to skateboarding were lauded from the podium.

And Gina Carano sat in the audience, wondering if her fellow athletes even know that her sport exists.