The Raiders fired coach Lane Kiffin this morning. That’s no surprise. What is a surprise is that owner Al Davis hasn’t been run out of town yet. 

There isn’t one person I’ve talked to, ever, who had nice things to say about Davis. Every journalist I’ve ever met who has covered the Raiders or keeps an eye on the situation spouts stories of his crassness and dictator-like attitude somehow impeding their lifestyles. The media takes every shot it can at the guy and he keeps on ticking. Maybe he should suit up and help his team pass block.

The guy’s a solid rock. He’s not phased by what anyone says or thinks about him, and for decades he’s slowly ruined a franchise he once admirably built to be full of champions. He’s like George Steinbrenner in New York, but worse. He’s Al Davis.

Kiffin’s departure was expected after a 1-3 start. Shoot, I’m convinced Davis would fire Vince Lombardi if he started a season 1-3. In only his second year, and at only 33 years old, Kiffin needed time to develop his program, which seemingly has a decent future ahead with the personnel he’s put in place on the field. But time is not a gift Davis grants, and just a season and four games into his tenure, Kiffin is burnt toast.

The real problem in Oakland, like everyone has been saying for a decade, isn’t the carousel of coaches coming through. It’s the owner, and as long as he’s around, nothing will change.

He’s like Fidel Castro in Cuba, but we can’t create a trade embargo to shut Davis down. He thrives on bad decisions, and blames everyone under him when they don’t work out. The Randy Moss deal? To any other team, that looked like a no brainer. For Oakland, with Davis pulling the trigger, it turned into a misfire that blew up right back into the face of the franchise.

Now he’s built his monetary foundation around more troubled players in DeAngelo Hall, Ashley Lelie, Javon Walker and Kwame Harris, all making way more money than they should. Then Davis fires Kiffin and tries to pull back on the promised $4 million in his contract? Come on, Al, that’s chump change for you. Cut the guy a break. He’s got a family to feed. Tiny Tim’s even on a crutch this Christmas, can’t Mr. Scrooge share his wealth?

Only if it’s with the wrong people.

I wouldn’t ever wish death on anyone, so my best suggestion to run Davis out of town is to become a 49ers fan. Sorry. As long as he’s alive, Raider fans will suffer, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

I’ve admitted I’m not a USC fan, but hear me out. The Trojans’ loss last night to Oregon State is good for college football.

While a group of fans in the southern part of the state are weeping, along with a fairly large group of front-runners across the nation, the loss opens the door to a million possibilities. It is these possibilities that can get fans not wearing the hideous maroon and gold combination to start paying attention.

For the same reason Tom Brady’s injury is great for the NFL this season, because it offers a new story to emerge from the ashes, USC’s fall from grace creates a battle for the nation’s top spot that could go back and forth until the final week of play.

After USC dominated Ohio State the week prior, it was obvious the top spot was theirs to lose. Unlike years past, where there may have been a swap week to week based on margin of victory and strength of schedule between the No. 1, 2 and 3 spots, the Trojans swiftly secured supremacy with the stomping of the Buckeyes. With a weak Pac-10 schedule ahead of them, and a Notre Dame team still struggling to find legs to stand on, USC seemed a lock for the national championship game. That lock is broken now, and every top 10 team in striking distance is sprinting for the gate.

Suddenly, the SEC schedule becomes the most important in college football. Georgia, the nation’s No. 3 seed, which stands tall at 4-0 so far this season, faces 4-0 and No. 8 seed Alabama this weekend. That game could have national title implications. Florida’s got the nation’s No. 4 spot and LSU is at No. 5. Most of these teams will face each other, and one loss could keep them from the national title. With schedules this difficult, and this much on the line, how could we not be excited?

Meanwhile, the Big 12 has four undefeated teams in the top 10 in the nation. Oklahoma, who will likely leapfrog USC for the No. 1 spot with a win over TCU this weekend, is at No. 2. Missouri is at No. 6, Texas is at No. 7 and Texas Tech is at No. 10. Again, they’ll all mix things up together this season and the king of the hill on that pileup could earn itself a national title.

This is what college football is supposed to be. The best teams in the land should duke it out to decide who is the ultimate champion. With no postseason tournament to showcase a survivor, now teams can decide their own fate — and take control out of the hands of BCS pollsters — just by winning tough football games. Because they have to beat legitimate, ranked opponents along the way, they’ll be deserving of the title.

The season just got a whole lot more exciting…

Unfortunately, there is a downfall to this situation. Each year, USC represents the West Coast’s best possibility at a national championship. The strength of USC usually equates to great respect for the Pac-10 Conference, too. Thursday night, that was all shattered. The conference’s (and nation’s) best lost to a team not even ranked. Oregon State came into the game 1-2. They left it with a win, and arguably, one that ruined the entire conference this year.

With Cal suffering a disappointing loss last weekend, Oregon falling to Boise State and UCLA getting killed by BYU this season, the Pac-10’s top spot goes to Arizona, who hasn’t had a strong team in nearly a decade. There isn’t one undefeated Pac-10 team left, and we’re only four games into the season!

So while last night’s game could be the best thing to happen to college football this season, it may have been the worst thing to hit the West Coast since Paris Hilton.

The Sacramento Monarchs lost in overtime in Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Monday night. While a first round exit is seemingly a disappointment, especially when it’s for the second straight year, it’s the effort, not the result, that we should be focusing on.

Sacramento put forth a dismal showing at home in Game 1 in an 85-78 loss, and if it weren’t for that, the Monarchs might have been playing Los Angeles tonight. It took that defeat to wake them up. And they did.

The Monarchs traveled to San Antonio to face the team with the best record in the WNBA. In the home of the Silver Stars, with elimination on the line, Sacramento not only won Game 2, but obliterated its opponent, 84-67. In an even more hostile environment, with both teams facing an offseason or a Western Conference Championship series, the Monarchs battled from down 12 in the fourth quarter to tie it up and force overtime against the best team in the league, and on its home floor. And while the Monarchs lost, that’s something to be proud of.

It’s not just pride these teams play for. It’s not just wins, either. A big motivator for these players is respect, and not just from other teams, but from themselves. A heroic showing the likes of Game 3 in San Antonio doesn’t just give the Monarchs the respect of the Silver Stars – who had to claw their way to advancing against a No. 4 seed – but provides them with the much needed respect going on in their own clubhouse. Knowing they almost knocked off the best, and in dramatic fashion, will play a huge part of an expected highly developmental offseason. It’s easy to go into training for next season knowing you were good enough to beat the best this season.

The beauty of it all is that Sacramento did it through adversity no other team can claim this year. The Monarchs lost one star to a trade (Yolanda Griffith), and another for most of the season to injury (DeMya Walker), and even when she came back for playoffs, she wasn’t 100 percent. Shoot, she probably wasn’t even 50 percent, scoring eight, eight and four points in the contests, respectively. Then, after seeing another player rise up all season long (Rebekkah Brunson), the Monarchs were forced to play without her the entire playoffs due to injury.

To survive a soap opera all season long with the depth chart and still almost pull off the upset of the playoffs is not only impressive, it’s admirable. It makes you wonder what a full and healthy squad could have done.

In the end, the Monarchs were sent packing early. The result was expected this year. The way the Monarchs went out, however, was not. Congratulations to the ladies of Sacramento. They played like they had something to prove, and they proved it. No one should doubt them again.

The beauty of high school sports is that they are so unpredictable. Friday night we saw plenty of that, as schools performed well beyond expectations in the opening week of high school football.

I say that from an outsider’s point of view, of course. In reality, coaches are never surprised when their teams rise to a challenge and perform up to, and well past, their expectations.

Such was the case on Sept. 12 in several instances. Folsom High School stands out, though, as it stomped a visiting Davis High 53-0 on Friday. The Sacramento Bee, which listed Davis as No. 17 in its Top 20 preseason rankings, didn’t even have the matchup with Folsom as one of Davis’ three key games of the season, and didn’t even have Folsom listed anywhere in the Top 20. Someone got their wires crossed, because a lopsided score like that can put quite a dent on their credibility, especially with a team on the warpath.

Folsom’s win was bigger than just the score. The school’s been fighting for respect for years, and with consistently one of the best offenses in the entire Sac-Joaquin Section, it should be getting it by now.

Sure, the Bulldogs lost star quarterback Cary Grossart to graduation, but they already had his replacement in training all year last year, and David Graves shined in his first appearance (eight rushes for 81 yards and two touchdowns, 8-13 passing for 109 yards and a touchdown, with one interception).

While everyone’s looking somewhere else, Folsom’s doing what it’s been doing for years, and this season it could make the biggest difference.

“The base of the offensive system remains the same,” Folsom coach Kris Richardson told me. “Then we adjust based on our abilities at QB. Dave is a phenomenal runner and has one of the strongest arms I have ever seen in high school football. I also think we have more depth and are more athletic at [wide receiver]. So I don’t see our offense slowing down one bit. In fact, I think this will be our best offensive team since I became head coach four years ago. The beauty of our system is it puts stress on the defense to defend the entire field. We take advantage of putting our athletes in space against the defense. Folsom has great young talent and we are very excited about this season.”

After that first game, we all should be.

Other Surprises

Speaking of blowouts, if you were surprised by how poorly Davis played, I hope you didn’t catch the Jesuit game. Usually a perennial power, and this year’s No. 13 pick by the Bee, the Marauders had a horrible first week of football, falling to St. Mary’s of Stockton, 52-0.

Granted, St. Mary’s is a powerhouse, one that went 12-1 before a narrow 38-36 loss in the section title game to Napa last year. But never ever did I expect to see a program the caliber of Jesuit’s take a pounding like that. The Marauders are too well coached for that.

Dan Carmazzi, in his 28th year, built a tradition of excellence at Jesuit, and after going 4-1 in league last year and 8-3 overall, the team is expected to still come out this season and compete with the best of them. Friday night the Marauders did not.

Expect Golden Valley to take the blunt of the anger this weekend, as they’ll come to Sacramento with an 0-2 record to face a Jesuit team at home with one of the bigger chips they’ve had in Carmazzi’s tenure.

Another surprise was how well Vista del Lago High in Folsom played. While I should know better, as head coach Chris Jones is one of the better coaches in the area, I thought for sure the Eagles would suffer an embarrassing defeat in its first attempt.

The 1-year-old school in its inaugural varsity season, with no seniors on the roster and no players with varsity experience, obviously, squared off against last year’s Division I Sac-Joaquin Section defending champion Napa High School. Vista del Lago is a Division II school.

Yet odds makers, including myself, who expected a Napa High blowout of the Eagles, were pleasantly surprised to see a competitive game through most of the first half. In fact, the defending champs struggled early to do anything against Vista del Lago, seeing early drives shut down by the Eagles–in one instance resulting in a safety putting Vista up 2-0 in the game.

Eventually, an experienced and powerful offense ran the ball through the Eagle defense and the Napa’s defense shut down Vista’s offense en route to a 29-9 win. But it wasn’t easy, and for a team looking to make a name for itself, Vista del Lago had a pretty good start to its campaign.

Instant Classics

There were some good football games this weekend between top level teams. Pleasant Grove came out on top in an absolute dog fight with Franklin High School on Friday, 18-14. While both teams hope for deep playoff runs, a hard-fought game like this one is a good indicator of the gritty play they’ll need to have to be successful.

The battle happened at Cosumnes River College, but had the feel of any high school football stadium with raucous students from both sides. A 14-6 lead for Franklin going into the fourth quarter kept Pleasant Grove in the dirt until it clawed its way out with a score, a forced turnover and another score to cap the victory.

This game, although lacking in heavy contribution to the scoreboard, could be what the Division I playoffs look like later, and potentially, could involve another meeting with the exact two teams.

Nevada Union edged Ponderosa in another close fight over the weekend, 15-14. Quarter-by-quarter the game shifted one way to the other, with the game ultimately decided by a two-point conversion with just minutes left.

Nevada Union scored first, rushing in from two yards out in the first quarter. It was the only score of the quarter. Ponderosa followed suit from four yards out in the second quarter to tie it up at 7-7 going into the half.

After several defensive stands by both teams in the third quarter, Ponderosa broke free on a 33-yard touchdown pass, the only score of the quarter, to go up 14-7. And after battling defensively most of the fourth quarter, Nevada Union followed with a similar score, a pass from 21-yards out to bring it within one point.

In a precursor to the Denver Broncos’ decision Sunday, Nevada Union decided to go for the win instead, and with only 3:36 left on the clock, converted a two-point conversion on a two-yard rush for the victory.

While the area posted far more opening weekend football games, I’m only one man and so I must move on. Congrats to all the high school teams who put on a show for us, and to those who didn’t, it’s week one, you’ve got plenty of time to recover. Give me a reason to make your game the one that I, and the rest of Sacramento, should be talking about.

Speaking of USC, the University of Southern California is manhandling Ohio State right now, 35-3. Is there anything worse as a sports fan than hearing for a month how big a game something like tonight’s game is supposed to be, only to find out it’s a laugher? This thing was dubbed the game to watch of the early season, and possibly game of the year. It’s not even “game of the 8 p.m. eastern slot on Sept. 13.” Shoot, a 3-2 win for Auburn, yes a 3-2 score in football, was more exciting.

I just wasted three hours watching crap. Rankings mean nothing to me right now. How does the No. 5 team in the nation look like a junior varsity squad on national television, regardless of who it is playing? Doesn’t the talent on the team collectively earning that ranking have the ability to put forth a decent effort? Apparently not.

We’ll hear excuses of Ohio State’s star running back not playing due to injury, which seemed more to me like a scapegoat in the making when he looked healthy enough to at least attempt to play but was scratched by the head coach before the game. What better excuse to appeal to the BCS gods later in the season than a Heisman candidate’s inability to play being the reason you couldn’t compete, right?

Wrong. One man could not have beaten USC tonight. Shoot, he couldn’t have even come close to competing. Ohio State is overrated, as they are every year they get national championship rankings and choke in big games, and the best team in the nation spanked them, as it would any mediocre team. Please send the Buckeyes to oblivion already, we’re all sick of them and their expectations.

I’ve been teased all of my life for being a Notre Dame football fan. While there are plenty of us across the nation, I was one of the only ones in existence in my hometown in Washington State, most loyal to their home state colleges or whatever national powerhouse rued the day at the time.

But lately, the teasing has turned to hate. As I get older and wiser, my network of associates transfers from old high school buddies basing their opinions on taste to educated sports writers and such basing their opinions on facts. And while the new heat I feel for being a Fighting Irish fan has a lot more weight behind it, it feels exactly the same. Just a bunch of haters.

You either love Notre Dame or you hate it. There’s no middle ground, really. You rarely hear someone talk about how their second favorite team is Notre Dame, or how they aren’t big fans but enjoy seeing the Fighting Irish do well each weekend. Football fans either don their green and gold and tune in each week to the game on NBC, or they frustratingly change the channel with a grunt when the gold helmets rush onto the field to their infamous fight song before the game.

I’m obviously of the prior crowd, and for several reasons. No, I have no family who attended Notre Dame, nor did I go there. But I nearly did. While hard enough to leave the family and go to college across the nation, I probably still would have done it had the money been there. I had the grades and extracurriculars, but no financial aid, and so I went to Gonzaga University, which I labeled “the Notre Dame of the West.”

Yes, I’m also Catholic, and that plays a part in it. But I don’t understand the hatred there. I don’t root against BYU every time the Cougars step on the field just because I’m not Morman. That’s stupid. I don’t root for them because they aren’t my team, but it seems silly to feel so passionately against a team I have no real ties to. This doesn’t stop the rest of the nation from making silly judgments based on absolutely no logistics.

I read an article today on Foxsports.com and the comments below about Notre Dame led to this blog. Big Bear Daddy said, “Please somebody add ‘The Catholics’ to the Missouri schedule so they have something to pray about!”

Ouch. Necessary? Nope. Pointless? Absolutely. But Notre Dame haters feel they must consistently be heard.

Here’s the thing. I hate the University of Southern California. But I have somewhat legitimate reasons. A) They are the game circled as rivals on Notre Dame’s schedule each year. And while the latter years of my life USC has basically spanked my team (even getting a win with Reggie Bush illegally pushing Matt Leinart into the end zone), this matchup will one day have national title implications again. B) One of my best friends growing up went to and graduated from USC, now lives in LA and consistently smiles when the rivalry is brought up. This makes for difficult times for our friendship during football season. C) I grew up also rooting for Pac-10 schools in Washington State, as my own siblings are graduates of both Washington State University and the University of Washington, both of which fight USC each year in the conference to determine which team will get a bowl bid. Lately, it’s been USC every year, and I’m sick of seeing them on top.

Yet no matter how much I want USC to go down, I don’t sit each week anxious to see them lose. I don’t dedicate a good portion of my energy and time bashing them. I don’t complain about how often they are on television either, because while I don’t tune in, I absolutely understand why the rest of the nation does. It’s just smart programming to have the Trojans on TV—why wouldn’t you cash in on a nation of front-runners?

That brings me to my final point. I think the reason people hate Notre Dame so much is because it has a loyal following that will never go away. We haven’t had a successful season since Brady Quinn graduated three years ago, and last year had the potential to have the worst season in school history. Yet we still watched each week, while NBC aired each terrible game. We still planned our weekends around making sure we learned the new players on a downtrodden squad, and suffered through agonizing weeks of “rebuilding.” And this year may be the same, but we’ll still be watching. It’s what we do.

Fans of other schools can’t understand that. Probably because when their teams aren’t in the national title hunt, they move on to other things on Saturday. Either that or they pick a new national powerhouse having a good year to follow. For fans like this, it’s all about good football, and while that’s fine, they’ll never understand what being a fan of a team really means. I’m a fan of good football, and I, too, will be watching USC versus Ohio State on Saturday, but after the Notre Dame game. If they were on at the same time, you can guess what I’d be watching. Hey, the Notre Dame game will have commercial breaks, right? I can catch what’s going on in the “other game” then.

Another comment on the same Foxsports.com piece said it best. John 68 said, “Maybe NBC has them on every week because they are the most watched and listened to team in the country; take two minutes and look it up, it`s a fact. Also to all you haters of ND, if you know anything about football you know that ND is in a class of its own. Seven Heisman trophy winners, more All-Americans than any school, has produced the most NFL players, 11 consensus National Championships, eight more National Championship votes by one of the major voting bodies such as the AP, UPI, etc., [and] two championships they do not recognize since the AP or Coaches poll did not vote them in and they will not count a National Championship unless the AP or Coaches vote them in. They have had only 12 losing seasons in 118 years and have never played a Division II school. And the best part is they graduate 98.74 percent of all players regardless of color. Now you know the facts.”

I don’t know how well researched his facts are, but the bottom line is this: If you hate Notre Dame, change the channel. There are up to five games airing at a time on cable television, and as long as loyal fans like me have nothing better to do, NBC will be cashing in on Notre Dame. For it, Notre Dame Football is a cash cow. For us, it’s a way of life. I hope nothing changes.

When technology bursts onto any scene in a factory or warehouse, management and customers receiving actual product are ecstatic to see progress. Meanwhile, workers trying to put food on the table and survive in an unforgiving world are replaced or reassigned, making the rich richer and the poor jobless.

We’ve all seen the story on the big screen, “My father worked in that mill for 40 years before they shut it down,” or “They told us we needed to learn a new trade with the changes, but for my dad, working in the factory was all he knew…” It’s always some sad sap drunk and asleep on the couch, depressed about how his life has taken a turn for the worst.

While I’m not saying MLB players will be searching the classifieds for new jobs, or have trouble paying for a meal, the league’s implementation of instant replay on Aug. 28 started a slippery slope that will lead to the downfall of baseball. Sometimes, using technology over the hard work of a human being just isn’t worth it.

Right now, instant replay can only be used to determine “boundary calls,” such as a home run ball staying fair or going foul, or when fans interfere on a ball over the fence. But it won’t stop here. They are just breaking us down. Soon, instant replay will be used for everything, and thus, spell doom for America’s Pastime.

We’ll have a machine dictating right or wrong. We’ll have a veteran umpire in the league 20 years second guessing his calls and abilities, while a mechanical gadget determines the fate of a game played between two rosters of hot-blooded athletes. Soon, it’ll be a computer’s game.

Who is to stop the slope from sliding? If we’re so bent on getting the questionable home run balls figured out on screen, why wouldn’t we soon have all calls reviewed? I mean, we started this vendetta against umpires because a couple of blown home run calls, what happens when a World Series game is dictated by a play at the plate, or a questionable strikeout ends a team’s season down one run with the bases loaded in the ninth? Wouldn’t we want to get those calls “right,” too?

I can just see it now. The Oakland A’s, just a game from playoff contention, are tied in the ninth with a runner on third. Unexpectedly, he steals home on a hit-and-run, the batter swings and misses and the catcher swipes the left side of the plate to try to save his team. The umpire prepares to signal “Safe!” then stops, turns around, points to the video room and says, “We’ll be right back.” Yeah, that’s good for baseball.

Soon we’ll be taking fans out of the game, too. Fans boo at bad calls and argue with umpires all game long. It’s actually part of the fun of being at the ballpark. There aren’t three replays after each pitch like you see on television at home, shutting up even the brightest of us as we realize that slider did bend slightly over the plate. You get to be wrong, or right for that matter if the umpire is wrong, and scream at the guys in blue for ruining the game. That’s not a knock on the sport, it’s a draw. It’s one reason fans come in droves to watch live instead of at home on the tube. We don’t need to see the absolute truth, we want to drink a few beers, chat with friends around us and holler until we lose our voices. That’s baseball, or at least it was.

Now we’ll boo a bad call, the umpire will call time, and we’ll wait several minutes while some techie in a booth nowhere near the game relays his scientific analysis of the last play. Our hollering will turn to boredom and meaningless conversations amongst ourselves about the weather or John McCain’s speech last night on CNN.

What’s next, replacing umpires altogether? According to many, the “human element” is what’s screwing up the game anyway. Why even have umps if their calls will be overturned by video anyway? With technology at this rate, we might as well have a strike detector keep track of speed of pitch and accuracy within the zone, buzzing a loud sound and flashing a red light for every strike much like when a hockey player scores a goal. We can put sensors in the dirt on the field in all cases of foul balls, which will sound a horn anytime a ball lands out of play.

It might be good for the game. Players won’t have to work so hard anymore. And they sure won’t have to think for themselves. Shoot, do we even need players? If we’re turning this into a video game, we might as well just create characters digitally to play against each other. We could have dream matchups, like Babe Ruth facing Nolan Ryan, and have them react to balls with human-like form, then see who would really win an errorless game. That is the ultimate goal, right, to take errors out of baseball? We could get rid of a big statistic in the game altogether.

The situation got its first test on Sept. 3, as New York’s Alex Rodriguez hit a homer that Rays catcher Dioner Navarro and manager Joe Maddon immediately debated. The umpires called it a home run, but converged to the review room to make sure. Two minutes and 15 seconds later, they returned and announced their original call was correct. Geeze, it’s a good thing we had instant replay for that. Now the fans can cheer for real on the home run, because initially, their excitement didn’t really count.

The best part? The pitcher who gave up the home run to Rodriguez knew it was good, until he saw the replay.

“It was clearly fair, but after looking at the replay, I wouldn’t have known what to call, to be honest with you,” Troy Percival told the Associated Press after the game. “The replay made it more cloudy for me.”

When I think of Urijah Faber in Sacramento, I envision King Kong atop the Capitol Building, swatting away pesky airplanes trying to shoot him down. The Mixed Martial Arts fighter seems to be made of solid rock, and with a record of 21-1, has been nearly unbeatable in his entire career.

In reality, Faber stands just 5-feet-6-inches tall and weighs only 145 pounds. At 6-feet-4-inches tall and nearly 100 pounds heavier, it’d be silly for me to be intimidated by a guy the size I was in middle school, yet there’s an aura surrounding Faber that should frighten anyone standing in his path.

On Sept. 10, it’s Mike Brown’s turn to get the feeling, as he’ll try to take Faber’s Featherweight belt in a World Extreme Cagefighting event televised live on the Versus channel. While every puncher’s got a chance in this sport, odds are against Brown, who may feel the wrath of Sacramento’s finest fireball in the cage.

To me, Faber is the King of Sacramento right now. With the Sacramento Kings coming off of a subpar season and Faber doing what the Kings can’t in nearly selling out Arco Arena for his last fight, “The California Kid” has stolen the local spotlight. To anyone watching the sport of MMA blossom into the front-runner of the pay-per-view market, Sacramento has become synonymous with Urijah Faber.

The Kings will always be the big ticket in town, as we can’t buy season tickets to Urijah Faber fights, but after trading Mike Bibby and Ron Artest, the team’s biggest two names, the basketball team is left rebuilding. That won’t sell a boatload of jerseys or get 8-year-old boys in Kentucky to tune into games like it would if Kobe Bryant or LeBron James took the stage. This leaves the door open for Faber to become our real hero.

The guy is putting our city back on the map. We had some legendary boxers in the past, and hopefully more are growing here day by day, but between, we have Faber standing tall above all other fighters. With every victory he gets on a national stage, he attracts more fans to the sport, and ultimately, sheds a bright light on his home city. We must embrace his success as our own, and welcome him to our lives as a sports symbol representative of the greatness of this city.

The icing to the cake is that Faber is a great guy. Take him out of the cage and he’s friendly and outgoing, endearing and loyal. There’s no glitz or glamour to his persona. He defines hard working in his preparation for every fight and he does everything in his career with class. He’s intelligent, articulate, talented and charming. Even if the sport is fighting, which most of us would discourage our kids from doing on the playground, he’s a role model. What more could you ask from an athlete?

Sacramento’s answer to that question would be “another win.” We’ll find out on Sept. 10, as we’ll be watching, hopefully with the rest of the entire nation, which should get to see Sacramento’s champion dazzle the crowd again.

Sometimes, all you need as an athlete is a chance to shine. Ryan Moya, an Oak Ridge High School graduate and current backup tight end for UCLA, roamed the sidelines to start the game on Monday night against Tennessee on ESPN. An injury to the guy in front of him gave him his chance, and Moya rode it all the way to what should have been a game-winning touchdown in front of the entire nation.

The game, the final celebration to the weekend to start the college football season, pitted unranked UCLA against a highly-touted 18th ranked Tennessee on Labor Day, a game ESPN advertised for weeks to gain some hefty viewership on a holiday evening. In a tight game coming down to the final seconds, the stage was set for some heroics. Who would get the call, though? The quarterback? The star receiver or running back? Surely not a backup tight end…

While those of us near El Dorado Hills know Moya’s capabilities, as he destroyed high school competition for years, the college football circuit had yet to really meet him. Monday night, it did, and in a big way.

Moya, who replaced starting tight end and team captain Logan Paulsen (who left the game in the first half with a fractured foot), stepped up to the challenge. Down 21-17 with just 1:54 to play, UCLA drove downfield with one last shot at glory. Moya took that shot, thanks to a sudden transparent faith in him from the UCLA quarterback and coach, and nearly won the game on his own.

The Bruins went to Moya on three straight plays. The first, an 8-yard pass to Moya down the middle, got UCLA to the 3-yard line. The next play, quarterback Kevin Craft look immediately to Moya upon the snap and overthrew him in the end zone. The third time, always the charm, Craft again looked only to Moya upon dropping back in the pocket, and nailed the tight end for the go-ahead score.

While Tennessee would go on to drive downfield itself and kick a game-tying field goal to send it to overtime, kind of stealing what would have been a great moment for Moya’s career, the Volunteers couldn’t make the necessary field goal in overtime to tie a very anticlimactic one booted by UCLA to go up 27-24 after a quick three-and-out.

Moya’s heroism is rarely seen in college football, where stars steal the show each week and ranked teams usually blow out unranked opponents. For Moya to even see the playing time necessary for him to catch seven passes for 65 yards in the game, a team leader had to unexpectedly go down with a serious injury, opening a very rare door.

Even then, though, why would a quarterback trying to erase a four-interception first half dedicate a good portion of his throws to the backup tight end? Of the eight passes on UCLA’s final drive, five were thrown to Moya, including the final three within striking distance. It wasn’t by chance, either. Craft didn’t even look anywhere else.

Moya was given a chance to shine and he exploded with brightness. After sitting out the 2007 season for personal reasons and watching his 2006 season end with an injury, it was about time he got a chance to showcase his abilities again.

With his predecessor probably on crutches for most of the near future, Moya’s wings will get a chance to spread even wider, and if he plays anything like he did on Monday, he could save a UCLA team not only from a loss to a powerhouse team like Tennessee, but from a season that in the first half of that Monday night game looked pretty dismal.

In another attempt to get attention, Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Johnson legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco in Florida, where he lives. “Ocho Cinco,” Spanish for 85, his jersey number, had previously been his self-given nickname in the NFL.

This is news only because we allow it to be. Once again, Johnson is doing everything in his power to gain fans, piss off his head coach and create an image that will last in the NFL long after his career ends. As long as we keep paying attention, it will work.

Anyone who has raised a child understands Johnson’s tactics. The “look at me” routine is all too common in kids trying to test their parents. When they don’t get the attention they want, they throw a fit until they do. Johnson’s career has taken an eerily similar identity.

Unfortunately, we as football fans embrace Johnson’s behavior. Unlike a parent recognizing the bad antics and responding with stern punishment, we celebrate Johnson’s tantrums, encouraging him to pursue even further annoying action. And so, a cycle is created, one that won’t end for a long, long time.

Johnson’s a talented receiver. Add an attitude and he’s a character. The NFL needs characters to sell merchandise, and so we see highlights on ESPN almost weekly not of Johnson catching touchdowns, but of him causing another stir on the sideline. While coaches and the administration pretend to be infuriated, fans run to the team store and buy a jersey, eager to emulate the attention-grabber putting up mediocre numbers. Meanwhile, Johnson’s teammate and fellow receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh lights up the scoreboard quietly and no one outside of Cincinnati has any idea who he is. Johnson’s not even the best receiver on his own team, yet because he acts like a child, he’s one of the most recognizable in the entire league.

Changing his name this week made headlines, as he expected. While it won’t be his attitude changing any time soon, there is one thing we can change immediately: Next time one of his antics show up on TV, let’s all change the channel.