OCTOBER OBSERVATIONS

As we approach Halloween and after this last weekend of sports activity, it is a good time (or excuse) for me to comment.

PRO FOOTBALL:  Are you as delighted as I by the showing of Peyton Manning, who certainly killed any rumors of being a has-been?

Are the Atlanta Falcons for real or will reality strike home in the last half of the season?

The Jets have a dual quarterback problem, Also a running back, offensive line and defense problem.

Cream is beginning to rise to the top. Watch the Pack, the Patriots, the Oilers and the Giants. The Steelers may be coming alive, as well.  Dark horse, Denver.

 Tony Romo almost pulled off an Eli Manning but missed by a hand.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: I still think Ohio State is overrated but less than I did. Wisconsin and Michigan will prove tests. Braxton Miller and Denard Robinson---hmmmm.

Alabama still the class of football. L.S.U. will be their last real test.

K-State will be tested by Oklahoma State and (bare possibility) Texas.

Will Notre Dame have one "Hail Mary" left to beat U.S.C.?

Oregon has three tests ahead of them in U.S.C., Stanford and Oregon State---that's a handful.

Anyone think we need a playoff system, more than ever?

BASEBALL:  I feel better about my Reds losing to the Giants, the supreme masters of coming from behind and snowballing momentum. It was a "mo" World Series with the the the two hottest teams at the right time duking it out. Obviously, the Tigers got defanged and had nothing left in their tank.

MISCELLANEOUS:  Isn't it great to see Indiana back in the basketball mix? Seems like old times.

A new "mano a mano" shaping up in golf with Rory and Tiger squaring off .

Explain to me how women's tennis (the W.T.A.) devolves a ranking system where Serena Willams is ranked third, having won Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, two gold medals in the Olympics and the W.T.A. championship? What labyrnthian thought process came up with this seeding?

May the wirches and ghouls bring you treats.