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Since it's September, that means it's a time of panic in Chicago. Cubs fans are dealing with a five-game losing streak, and the thoughts of another late season collapse have entered their fragile psyches. Evidence of this can be seen in the fan's reactions to the recent fears that Carlos Zambrano might be lost for the year.

Well, while that fear has been put to bed, there's another one that's all ready to take it's place. Except this time, it's located on the south side of the city. White Sox fans are preparing for the worst as it's looking like the team may lose Carlos Quentin for the rest of the season.

Carlos Quentin's season appears to be in jeopardy after the White Sox received MRI results on his injured right forearm and wrist Friday morning, according to sources close to the situation.

It's unclear how he suffered the injury, but he was a late scratch Monday and hasn't played since.

This would obviously be horrible news for the White Sox. In a season that has seen a lot more downs than ups offensively, Quentin has been the lone constant in the White Sox lineup. He's gone from somebody nobody in Chicago had ever heard of, to being a legit AL MVP candidate.

To lose him now would be a devastating blow in the team's battle with the Twins. Now, if you don't mind me, I'm going to go get a head start on my drinking this weekend.

Brandon Lang, whose life as a professional sports handicapper was depicted in the 2005 movie Two For The Money, offers picks that he says can turn a profit over the long-term for his clients. His full picks are available exclusively at his web site, www.BrandonLang.com, but he's offered a few picks to us for free here at FanHouse.

As we get ready for week one matchup of the Cowboys and Browns, Ace Davis from his own Ace Davis Cleveland Browns Blog was nice enough to offer some insights on the Browns for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.

They haven't been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, but after losing six of their last eight games, the Cardinals are quickly falling out of it. They have no real hope of winning their division, as they currently trail the Cubs by ten games, and their wild card hopes are fading as well with Milwaukee sporting a nice five-game cushion.

So if members of the Cardinals start looking toward next season, you can't really blame them. One of the big questions about the Cardinals in 2009 has been Tony LaRussa, and whether or not he's going to return to the bench and manage the team next season. Well, while he doesn't want to talk about it right now, Tony's not denying that he may leave the Cardinals organization, though it won't be for a managerial position somewhere else.

"If I'm managing next year, I'm managing here," he said.

However, La Russa does not discount growing speculation that he could eventually go elsewhere as general manager. A crush of GM jobs is expected to become available shortly after this season, including in Seattle, Toronto and potentially Washington and San Francisco.

La Russa said any question about a future front office move was "not absurd; but right now it's just not pertinent."

A move to the front office could be an interesting, and no doubt appealing, option for LaRussa. He really doesn't have too much more to prove as a manager, and he might enjoy the challenge of building a team from scratch. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Tony end up as a general manager next season.

Tell me if this sounds familiar: U.S. senator crusades to end corruption, except nobody cares because: a) instead of targeting lobbyists or corporate negligence, it's a professional sports team, and b) this in no way helps his constituents.

Well, Arlen Specter, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, has decided that Spygate is, in fact, not over. Again. (He's the Brett Favre of Capitol Hill, but with fewer career interceptions.) Which means that after proclaiming the investigation dead on June 17, and then, three days later, leaving open the possibility that he wasn't necessarily finished wasting taxpayer dollars, Specter has decided that the Republican National Convention was the perfect time to get his name back in the paper.

"I don't do anything except with vigor," Specter told the Track yesterday ... "I think there will be more on the issue of irregularities with the NFL. I published a report in June that gave my position, but there will be more aspects of this that need to be examined."

Enjoy your heaping dose of vigor, Pennsylvania residents, because unless you work for Comcast, the guy you elected to represent you won't be doing his job. Apparently, the NFL needs saving and Specter's just the man to do it, although he readily admits he can't do anything for the Redskins offense.

via PFT

Well, that sure didn't take long. Ten days after the LPGA announced their plan to force players to speak English by the end of 2009, the tour has pulled back its guns.

The heavily criticized policy was to be put in place late in the season next year and penalize foreign players who failed to pass an English speaking exam. LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn Bivens, fresh off a perfectly timed vacation, announced today that the policy will exclude penalties.

Bivens said Friday the tour would announce a revised plan by the end of the year. That plan would not include any penalties.

Bivens said there are other ways to achieve the tour's objective of ``supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every tour player.''

This seemed to be inevitable, what with all the legal and discriminatory questions brought up, but the idea brought at least a little attention to a struggling professional sports organization. The whole idea was to allow sponsors to market better in an English heavy environment, but backfired when some current sponsors said they might pull out if this came to fruition.

It also probably didn't help the cause that the best female golfer in the world, Lorena Ochoa, spoke up against the policy.

Alas, the experiment failed miserably, so if you're planning on participating in a Pro-Am next year on the LPGA, it might, once again, just be about the golf.