Saints don't get AFC's memo

The AFC spent most of Sunday sending a powerful statement to the NFC.

By about 5:45 p.m. EST, and well into the day's second offering of games, the AFC had taken all the toss-up tilts between the rival leagues, and turned them into their own.
The Bengals had demolished the Bears, 45-10. Houston had knocked back a suddenly reeling 49ers club. Pittsburgh had played with fire, and then set ablaze Minnesota's undefeated season. Why Buffalo had even out-mediocre-d the Panthers in Carolina.

And now with its undefeated Saints being battered by middling Miami, 24-3, late in the first half, the NFC was preparing a message of surrender. But just before the white flag went up, Drew Brees' Saints put their league on their backs and picked themselves up off the Miami sod with a resounding leap.

As it turned out, Brees' gutsy TD on fourth down, and with only five seconds left in the half, ignited a 43-10 explosion that rocked Land Shark Stadium and sent the shell-shocked Dolphins players back-peddling to the safety of their locker room to ponder what in the world had just hit them.

New Orleans seemed to score from everywhere and anywhere; on offense or defense; through the air or on the ground...and Miami had no answer.

So, by the end of the day, and on behalf of the teetering NFC, the 6-0 Saints delivered the day's final rejoinder: Not so fast, baby!


Now onto a sampling of what the nation's sportswriters and columnists are saying about their football teams across every NFL city, because in the Grill Room we love the newspaper business, even if it hates itself.

(1) New Orleans 46
(16) Miami 34

• Brees leap of faith starts undefeated Saints on comeback trail.
• Miami punches out early.

(15) Cincinnati 45
(12) Chicago 10

• Brand-new Benson batters Bears then dashes talk of revenge.
• Shhhh...be careful or you might wake up hibernating Bears.
  

(17) Green Bay 31
(27) Cleveland 3

• Pack feast on the weak and get fat and happy.
• Maybe the Browns trailed throughout, but at least they can catch a cold.
  

(14) Houston 24
(13) San Francisco 21

• Kubiak passes on run to put away 49ers.
• Singletary got it half right when he went to QB Smith.
  

(19) San Diego 37
(25) Kansas City 7

• Chargers get healthy on sickly Chiefs.
• Haley's a good person, except he is a horrifically rotten coach.
  

(7) Pittsburgh 27
(3) Minnesota 17

• Steelers' defense answered the bell...
• ...and my, wasn't that Vikings' offense the generous guest.
  

(2) Indianapolis 42
(32) St. Louis 6

• With Sanders, Colts' defense is finger-licking good.
• Colts abruptly pull ladder out from underneath rising Rams.
  

(8) New England 35
(28) Tampa Bay 7

• Patriots duck in a rout around their site-seeing trip to London.
• It's time for pathetic Bucs to take 5.
  

(23) Buffalo 20
(22) Carolina 9

• Inept Panthers make local boy feel at home...
• ...and close the door on their season.
  

(20) N.Y. Jets 38
(26) Oakland 0

• Hot dog! Jets break three-game losing streak!
• Raiders stepping up, and out of another season.

(18) Dallas 37
(5) Atlanta 21

• Cowboys are Miles better without Owens.
• Falcons can't fly when they can't run.
  

(11) Arizona 24
(6) N.Y. Giants 17

• Cards' defense rises up and makes Giant strides.
• Giants better head back to drawing board to avoid another collapse.
  

(*) denotes NFL 100-proof ranking

(Associated Press photo)

Obama No Match For This Game

Well, that'll teach our sports-minded president to get involved with a political mob like the International Olympic Committee.
And he thought Chicago politics were rough and tumble...

Whether President Obama should have involved himself so directly to bring the Olympic Games to Chicago in 2016, given the other pressing things he has on his plate these days, is fair game for the political pundits -- but this thing was never going to end well.

It seems to me that he, and the dynamic duo of wife, Michelle, and Talk Show Goddess, Oprah, had everything to lose and nothing to win when they made the long trip to Copenhagen to genuflect in front of an institution that has shown itself over the years to run a cottage industry specializing in corruption, warped judgment, and greed.

In the past 70 years, give or take, or since a German leader named Adolph Hitler bribed Pierre de Coubertin, the French founder of the modern Olympic Movement, to secure the 1936 Games in Berlin, the Olympics have too often seen the athletic competition relegated to some sort of distracting sideline event.

Oh, they generally put on a grand show -- and in 1936, thank God the classy Jesse Owens stole that particular show -- but like so many corporate monstrosities, the IOC clutches hard to power and treasure, and we're not talking about gold, silver and bronze here.

The Olympics have managed to become a rickety stage for all manner of abhorrent behavior ranging from the downright tawdry -- 1994, Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan; to the downright crooked -- 1972, U.S. basketball team gets robbed; to the downright gruesome -- 1972, the Munich Massacre, in which 11 members of the Israeli wrestling team were killed by terrorists.

Throw in the boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 Games, any number of doping controversies, the 1996 bombing in Atlanta, the boxing fix of 1988, the pairs figure skating snafu in 2002, Ben Johnson in 1988, and last summer's censorship of the media by the Chinese authorities, and the Olympics can manage to make your average TV reality program look classy.

But, man can they make money.

NBC alone paid $894 million for the rights to broadcast the 2008 Beijing Games. Imagine what the price will be in 2016?! Then throw in the billions they rake in from the other countries that send their athletes off with the Olympic spirit...

When the IOC saw the leader of the most powerful nation in the world come to Copenhagen, hat in hand, this week, this was about a lot more than money. Money they have.
No, in this case, the bastards knew they had us right where they wanted us -- on our knees.

It wouldn't be the first time, but where the United States is concerned, let's hope it's the last.